Second Time Around
by StormWolf10
Summary: Now that Alec and Rose have settled into a routine, creating a family for the second time, things seem to be going well. But when domestic problems are thrown up, they find them may be in for a rollercoaster...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: First chapter of the new story :) For those who haven't read 'Mutual Understanding', I suggest you read it, but I guess as long as you've seen Broadchurch, you'll be ok… **

"But why can't Alec take me?"

Rose sighed, pretending to be affronted.

"Oh, nice," she told Tony in a mock-hurt voice. "So you'd rather have Alec take you to school than me?"

Tony shrugged, picking at his toast as he sat at the table, one hand under his chin.

"Alec takes me in the Police car," the boy muttered, poking at his breakfast half-heartedly.

Alec watched the exchange over his morning cup of coffee, leant against the kitchen worktop. He'd forgotten just how stressful the morning school run could be until Rose and Tony had moved in seven months ago. The boy had started Year Three the day before, but it appeared his trip in the Police car due to heavy rain the previous day would cause problems for the rest of the term. What was Alec meant to have done? Let Rose walk Tony to school in the rain?

"That was just the once," he reminded the boy loudly, giving the seven year old a pointed look.

Tony responded by pouting. With another sigh, Rose glanced over her shoulder at her partner.

"This is your fault, you know," she told him.

"My fault?" Alec echoed, brow furrowing. "I didn't want the clutch to go in the car! Besides, the only car the station could lend me while ours was in the garage was a marked Police car, and I only took Tony in it because it was raining!"

Rose, however, had already returned her attention to her brother.

"Are you eating the rest of that toast, or not?" Rose asked. "Because you're gonna be late for school if we don't get a move on."

Tony pushed the plate of toast away, looking over at Alec hopefully.

"I wouldn't be late if Alec took me in the Police car," the boy announced hopefully.

Alec spluttered at that, narrowly avoiding spraying tea across the kitchen. Rose shook her head, trying not to laugh as she took Tony's plate from the table, tipping the half-eaten toast into the bin.

"Nice try," she told her brother, urging him off the chair after setting his plate and glass beside the sink. "Now, go get your coat on."

With a huff, Tony clomped out to the sitting room to collect his coat and school bag.

"I'll see you after work, yeah?" Rose told Alec, grabbing Tony's lunch bag.

Alec nodded, pressing a kiss to her lips before letting her head out into the sitting room. A few moments later, he heard the front door open and shut, and he was alone.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Heard back from the garage about your car yet?"

Alec looked up at the sound of Ellie's voice.

"Not yet," he responded, returning his attention to the papers on his desk. Then he paused, and looked up. "Still haven't learned to knock?"

Ellie huffed, and frowned at her friend.

"Why are you still such a grump at work?" Ellie asked, part annoyed and part amused. "You're fine when you're outside of work, with Rose."

Alec sniffed, but didn't reply. With a smirk, Ellie settled herself on the sofa in the office.

"That's why, isn't it?" she asked with a smirk.

"Why what?" Alec asked, glancing over at her with a frown, before looking back at the paperwork.

"Why you're still such a grumpy sod at work," Ellie told him, still grinning. "It's because Rose isn't here."

Alec scoffed, then.

"I'm perfectly capable of being away from Rose for several hours a day, Carter," he replied stiffly.

"Yeah, but you're a lot happier when you're with her, aren't you?" Ellie asked. "Happier when you're with Tony, too. You're grumpy whenever you're away from them." Ellie paused, then frowned. "Does Rose know that you're still a sod at work?"

"Has it occurred to you, Carter," Alec asked calmly, "that not everyone possesses your ability to be incessantly cheery whilst at work? I'm here to work, and concentrate on cases."

Ellie pulled a face then, but Alec didn't seem to notice. It was then that she spotted something unusual.

"You have a photo frame on your desk."

"Yes," Alec responded, still shuffling paperwork and reading over a case report he'd been given.

"You never have photo frames on your desk," Ellie told him.

"People change, Ellie," Alec reminded her, eyes darting to her, before reaching for a stapler.

"But you have a photo on your _desk_," Ellie said again, brow furrowed as she stared at the photo frame she could only see the back of. "You used to complain about the photos of Tom and Fred I keep in my purse!"

"That was ages ago, Carter," Alec told her. He paused, and looked over at her. "And I'm sorry about that."

Ellie blinked.

"Well, being with Rose has _definitely_ changed you," she murmured.

And then, she was on her feet, crossing the office floor and grabbing the photo frame. Alec realised what she was doing, tried to grab the frame before Ellie could, but he was too slow. Ellie had grabbed the photo, backing away from the office even as Alec got to his feet, making his way around the obstruction.

"Ellie, give it back-" Alec began forcefully, holding his hand out expectantly.

Ellie ignored him, turning the frame around as she smirked at the look of annoyance on Alec's face.

"Oh," she murmured, smile dropping as she took in the photo.

It hadn't been what she'd expected. But then, she wasn't sure _what_ she'd expected. This was Alec Hardy, the grumpy, Scottish DI. He never had photos in his office, let alone on his desk, and Ellie had been so busy teasing him about it that she hadn't actually stopped to think about what the picture might be of. But now, it made perfect sense. Because the photo in the frame was evidently recent, probably taken during the summer. Alec was in the photo, looking happier than Ellie had ever seen him, in the two years that she had known the man. And she supposed, the reason for his happiness was evident in the photo. To one side of him was Freya, and to the other- with Alec's arm around her shoulders- was Rose. Tony was settled against Rose and Alec, having apparently sprawled himself across their laps, and Ellie guessed that Freya was the one holding the camera at arms' length.

"Can I have it back?"

Alec's voice was quiet, but still more than enough to jerk Ellie from her thoughts. The man was holding his hand out for the photo again, and this time Ellie obliged.

"It's a nice photo," she told him as she handed the frame back.

Alec nodded, smiling as he stared at the frame now in his hands.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Took that on Tony's seventh birthday last week."

He set the photo back on his desk then, a silence settling over the room's two occupants. After a few moments, Ellie spoke.

"Well, I'll leave you to get on, then."

Alec nodded, already making his way back round to his chair. When he looked up again, Ellie had gone.

**~StormWolf10~**

For once, he'd been left alone at work. Tucked up in his office with paperwork and that photo, Alec found himself undisturbed for most of the day. Other than Ellie's interruption- and revelation about the photo- earlier that day, SOCO Brian had stuck his head round the door to ask if he wanted him to pick anything up for lunch at a nearby sandwich bar, but Alec had declined. He'd been uninterrupted apart from those two instances, and Alec was relieved. He'd still heard nothing back about the car, and he knew Elaine would get annoyed about having a marked Police car parked on his drive for yet another night, but she'd have to put up with it, wouldn't she?

Alec had spent a lot of his time staring at that photo rather than reading through the bloody paperwork he'd been left to sign. He was still struggling with the idea that Tony had started Year Three the day before, and that Freya had turned seventeen back in May. A lot seemed to be happening, all at once, and he wasn't sure how comfortable he was with it. In the past few months since Rose and Tony had moved in, and in the year and a half since he'd met them, a lot had changed in Alec's life, and although he loved having a family again, already Tony was wanting to be more independent from him and Rose, and Freya was holding down her job at the gym. They were growing up, and Alec couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before Freya wanted to move out and get her own place. He hoped it wouldn't be anytime soon.

At four o'clock, Alec made the executive decision to go home early. He still had another hour before he officially finished, but all the paperwork had been signed and filed, and there was nothing else he could do but twiddle his thumbs. Grabbing his coat and slipping it on, he hurried from the office. It was only as he was leaving the station, though, and climbing into the borrowed Police car that Alec realised something. For the first time in years, he'd spent the last few months feeling excited to get home from work. Because now, he had a family.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: In which Rose is unwell, Freya has to make a decision, and someone gets bad news… Don't forget to read and review, guys!**

Alec grumbled under his breath as he tried to urge Tony towards the door.

"Why isn't Rose taking me to school?" the boy asked, frowning up at Alec as the man pushed him towards through the sitting room.

"She's not feeling well," Alec responded. "Besides, a few weeks ago you were complaining that you wanted me to take you to school!"

"But that was back when you had a cool car," Tony muttered bitterly.

Alec sighed, and continued nudging the boy towards the door. It was halfway through October now, with half term being just over a week away. Rose had woken that morning feeling awful, and they could only guess that she'd caught a bug from Ellie's boys when they'd looked after them on Saturday. Fred had just been getting over a tummy upset, and Ellie hadn't wanted to take him food shopping, nor leave him home alone with Tom. Although Tom had turned thirteen in June, and Fred was two, Ellie still worried about leaving Tom in charge of his younger brother. While the boy was still very well behaved despite spending most time in his room like teenagers did, Ellie didn't want to put so much pressure on Tom. Rose had offered to have the boys over at theirs for an hour or so while Ellie did the food shopping, and just three days later, she was locked in the bathroom desperately trying not to throw up.

"Freya, do me a favour and keep an eye on Rose for me," Alec said as he saw his daughter come downstairs. "I'm dropping Tony at school and then coming back, but I need you to make sure she's alright."

Freya huffed a bit, still half-asleep.

"Dad, it's my morning off," she began tiredly as she wrapped her dressing gown further around her.

"It'll be for twenty minutes at the most," Alec told his daughter with an annoyed sigh. "And all you've got to do is keep an ear out, and if she calls for me, go up and check on her."

Then, before Freya could protest, Alec turned his attention back to Tony.

"Now come on," he sighed, pushing the boy's lunch box into his hands. "You've already almost been late several times since the beginning of term."

**~StormWolf10~**

By the time Alec returned from dropping Tony off at school, Rose had unexpectedly made it downstairs. He'd already phoned Ellie on the way back, telling her to tell Elaine he wouldn't be in to work that day.

"You should be upstairs," Alec announced at the sight of Rose curled up on the sofa in the sitting room.

He dropped a kiss on her forehead as she sighed in response, and looked around the room.

"Where's Freya? I asked her to keep an eye on you," Alec continued, brow furrowing.

"She's getting dressed," Rose replied quietly, eyes closed. "Anyway, I don't need her keeping an eye on me."

"Really?" Alec asked sarcastically, eyebrow raised as he took a seat on the arm of the sofa beside Rose's head. "So you weren't up at five this morning being sick?"

Rose grumbled something, and reached up to slap Alec on the leg. It wasn't a very effective slap, and Alec merely blinked at her.

"I'm going to phone your work, tell them you won't be in today," he announced as he got to his feet. "Are you still feeling sick?"

Rose nodded slightly, and Alec noted that her eyes had remained shut for the whole conversation. With another grumble, he got to his feet and headed to the kitchen to make the phone call. The whole thing took nothing more than a few minutes, and he couldn't help but notice the supermarket manager seemed a little preoccupied as Alec informed him it was unlikely Rose would be in for work the next few days or more. With a frown to himself, he flicked on the kettle just in time for Freya to enter the room.

"Thought I asked you to keep an eye on Rose?" he asked his daughter, glancing over at her as he pulled a mug out of the cupboard. Almost as a second thought, he pulled another mug out for Freya, before going about getting Rose a glass of water.

"I was having a shower," Freya responded grumpily. "I'll bet you anything I'd barely gotten out of the shower before you'd arrived home, and I was only in the shower for ten minutes. Rose said she'd be fine."

"That's beside the point, Freya," Alec retaliated sharply. "Rose shouldn't even be downstairs! She should be in bed!"

"Well, that's not my fault, is it?" Freya snapped, pushing past her Dad as the kettle finished boiling so that she could make her own tea.

Alec watched his daughter for a few moments before audibly sighing.

"I know," he responded quietly after a minute or so. "And I'm sorry. But I had Tony complaining the whole way to school, and I've been up since five with Rose…" He paused, unsure whether to mention the next part. "And your Mum called last night."

Freya froze, stirring the milk into her tea. And then, frowning, she turned to face her Dad.

"Mum called?" Freya echoed, brow furrowing. "What for?"

Alec sighed, and looked away for a few moments before responding.

"She wants to know if you want to go and spend Christmas up in Glasgow with her, Neil and Maisie," Alec explained eventually.

Freya wrinkled her nose.

"I'd like to see Maisie, yeah," she began slowly, thinking hard. "I mean, I went up for a week in the summer, but that was the first time I'd met her… But Neil…"

Freya trailed off, looking worried. Neil was her Mum's boyfriend, Maisie's Dad. Freya had never gotten on with the man.

"I told your Mum you'd phone her back tonight," Alec continued suddenly. "I know you're not fond of Neil-"

"I'm not particularly fond of _Mum_ anymore," Freya muttered, cutting Alec off.

Alec blinked, and then continued speaking, ignoring what his daughter had just said.

"I know you're not fond of Neil, but whether we like it or not, he's your Mum's partner," Alec pointed out, trying to maintain a calm exterior despite the way he hated to think of Neil and Bea being together. "Just like Rose is mine. Besides, Maisie's your little sister."

"Half sister," Freya corrected, voice soft.

"Well, yes," Alec conceded, "but-"

"No," Freya butted in, shaking her head as she met Alec's gaze. "That's what Neil and Mum refer to me as, to Maisie. When they first introduced me to her, it was 'Maisie, this is your half sister Freya'."

Alec blinked. And then his jaw clenched. He looked away for a few moments, letting out an angry sigh.

"_Your Mother_-" he began, teeth clenched angrily. But then he caught himself, breathed, composed himself. Then, he turned back to Freya. "It's your decision either way. If you want to stay here, then your Mum will have to deal with that. But if you want to go… Rose and I aren't going to stop you."

**~StormWolf10~**

Four days later, Rose had managed to drag herself out of bed to go to work. She was still feeling awful, and had spent every day since Monday being sick in the bathroom. Alec had heartily had enough of it, and had even been complaining to Ellie about it, who had profusely apologised and insisted she'd thought Fred was better. Still, they were a little concerned that a standard forty-eight hour bug still hadn't passed, and Alec was insisting that if she was still being sick on Monday, he was taking her to the GP.

Somehow, though, she'd managed to get through a whole shift at work without throwing up, although the queasiness remained. Quite pleased with herself, Rose headed back to the staff room to collect her things. It was only then that she saw Sarah, the assistant manager of the store, coming towards her with an apologetic look on her face.

"Rose," Sarah announced, sounding a little nervous. "Good, I caught you just in time! Steve wants to talk to you in his office."

Rose blinked, frowning as she shifted awkwardly. Steve was the supermarket manager. Surely she hadn't done anything wrong?

"This isn't about me being ill this week, is it?" Rose asked nervously. "'Cause I'm really sorry about that. And Alec was a little rude on the phone, too…"

Sarah smirked slightly at the mention of Alec.

"He wouldn't be Alec if he weren't a little grumpy sometimes," Sarah responded with a small smile. That smile, however, then faded. "But no, it's not about you being ill. I… I can't tell you. Sorry."

And then, with an apologetic smile, Sarah was walking away. Rose watched her go, dejected. There was nothing for it. She'd have to go and see Steve. She made her way to the office, not sure what to expect, and knocked on the door. She heard Steve call for her to enter, and she opened the door cautiously.

"Ah, Rose," Steve announced when he saw her, smiling at her with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I trust Sarah found you?"

Rose nodded.

"Yeah, I was just about to head home," Rose explained, before adding. "Tony finishes school in just under an hour."

Steve nodded.

"We won't be long," he assured her, before gesturing at the chair in front of his desk. "Would you take a seat?"

"What's this about?" Rose asked, not moving from her position by the door.

Steve sighed.

"Rose," he began carefully. "I really think it's best if you sit down."

"Have I done something wrong?" Rose continued, brow furrowing. "Has someone complained about me?"

"No," Steve replied firmly, gesturing at the chair again. "Now please, Rose, sit down."

This time, Rose did, perching on the edge of the chair. She shouldn't- wouldn't- get too comfortable. She felt like a little kid being called to the headmaster's office. She just knew this meeting wouldn't be good.

"As you know," Steve began, leaning forward, hands clasped on his desk, "many of the Broadchurch residents have recently begun turning back to the local family businesses in town, the butchers', bakers', grocers'… Business has been down for us, people are opting to buy their foods in several different shops rather than one supermarket."

Rose nodded, still unsure why this concerned her.

"And will our business going down, so have our takings," Steve continued slowly.

And then, then it hit her. She knew exactly what was going on. It must have shown on her face, because Steve looked troubled, and he sighed.

"I'm sorry, Rose," he sighed, sitting back in his chair. "But we can't afford to keep you on. We can't afford to let any of the part-time staff on. We're going to have to let you go."

**~StormWolf10~**

"Rose?" Tony asked, clambering into his sister's lap, book in hand. "Can you read this to me?"

Rose glanced at the clock with a small sigh. She still had a few hours before Alec would be back from work, but Freya was due back soon. Dinner had already been prepared, waiting in the oven, and Rose knew that her brother had done no homework. There was no excuse not to help him read his book. Except, of course, for the very pressing matter on her mind about how to explain her sudden lack of job to Alec.

"I'll read it to you," Rose told Tony as she took the copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban from him, "if you have a go at reading too."

Tony looked a little put-out, but nodded anyway. He'd made his way through the first two Harry Potter books in between the various books school had sent home for him to read, and Alec and Rose were beginning to try and encourage the boy to read them on his own. While he still needed help with some of the more difficult words, they'd found he could often read whole paragraphs at a time. The seven year old then wriggled back to settle on Rose's lap more, happily leaning back against her.

"Remember to do the voices," Tony piped up as Rose opened the book.

"Yes, I know, monkey!" Rose chided playfully, dropping a kiss on her brother's head before smoothing his blonde hair back.

Tugging Tony back a bit more so that she could see the book, it was then that Rose realised Tony was still wearing his school uniform, from his dark blue jumper to his blue and yellow striped tie. Blinking, she returned her attention to the book. She'd just opened her mouth to speak, when Tony beat her to it.

"Are you alright, Rose?"

The boy had twisted in her lap to look up at his sister worriedly. Forcing a smile, Rose nodded.

"Yeah, just didn't have a very good day at work," Rose told her brother with a weak smile. "Now, do you want to start reading, or shall I?"

Tony still looked a little uncertain, but returned his attention to the book Rose was holding in front of him. Taking a deep breath, he began to read.

"When Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next day, the first thing they saw was Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story. As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter."

The boy paused then, turning to look at Rose. She nodded, and smiled reassuringly, wordlessly urging the boy to continue. Licking his lips, a little wide-eyed, Tony turned back to the book.

""Ignore him," said Hermione, who was right behind Harry. "Just ignore him, it's not worth it...""

**~StormWolf10~**

When Alec got home from work, Rose was setting the table for dinner, with Tony's help. Alec ruffled Tony's hair and leant into Rose, giving her a quick kiss.

"How was work?" Rose asked as she finished setting the table.

Alec wrinkled his nose.

"Brian asked Ellie out again," he replied.

Rose blinked.

"Again?" Rose echoed, brow furrowing. "How many times has that been in the past two years?"

Alec shrugged.

"By my estimates, at least half a dozen times," Alec replied as he slipped his tie off. Then, he frowned. "Where's Freya?"

"She went out for a run," Rose replied, crossing the kitchen to begin pulling plates out of the cupboard. "She should be back soon, though. Told her dinner would be ready for half five."

Alec nodded, watching for a few moments as Tony slipped into his favoured seat at the table. Then, he turned his gaze to Rose. She looked tense, and he could tell something was bothering her.

"And what about you?" Alec asked, crossing the room to lean against the kitchen worktop beside her. "How was work?"

Rose sniffed as she switched the kettle on, and shook her head.

"Rubbish," Rose replied with a sigh. "But I'll explain later, once the kids are in bed."

Alec didn't look particularly happy about having to wait, but he nodded anyway, sensing it was perhaps something she didn't want to talk about in front of her little brother. There was the sound of the front door opening then, and barely a minute later, Freya appeared in the kitchen door.

"Have I got time to get changed?" she asked, eying the plates on the side.

Rose nodded.

"Yeah, but I'm about to begin dishing up, so make it quick," Rose replied as she moved to her oven.

Freya nodded, and hurried to her room. Alec busied himself with making the drinks, and not long later, they were all sat at the table with their dinner. Freya had tied her hair up in a messy ponytail, and dropped into her chair tiredly before tucking into the shepherd's pie Rose had cooked. If anyone noticed Rose had a smaller portion, nobody said anything.

**~StormWolf10~**

"So what happened at work today?"

Rose blinked, and looked over at Alec. He merely looked back at her expectantly. Rose bit her lip and looked away for a few moments.

"Rose?" Alec prompted, beginning to grow concerned.

"I've been made redundant."

Alec stared for a few moments.

"Right," he replied after a few moments, voice quiet. "Did they give you an explanation why?"

Rose shrugged.

"Takings are down," Rose responded. "People are shopping in the local shops, rather than the supermarket. They're letting all the part-time staff go."

Alec sniffed, setting back on the sofa to think.

"And do you want to look for another job?" he asked after a few moments.

Rose wrinkled her nose.

"Well, what else would I do? Tony's at school all day, you and Freya are at work. I'd only sit around the house all day," Rose pointed out. "Besides, I've been working since I left school. Wouldn't really know what to do with my time."

Alec nodded. While he wouldn't be opposed to Rose not working, and he knew how difficult it had been for her to find a job the first time, let alone now the supermarket had let her go, he also understood how claustrophobic it could feel without work to get you out the house. After two operations, he'd never realised what a godsend work was; yes, it meant that he was out a lot of the day, driving round looking into break-ins and robberies, and there was a bloody hell of a lot of paperwork to sign, but it got him out of the house, got him active.

"How's the nausea been today?" Alec asked suddenly, brow furrowing. "You didn't eat much at dinner."

Rose wrinkled her nose again, before biting her lip.

"Still feel grotty," she replied tiredly. "But I can't sit around here all day."

Alec frowned.

"Rose, it's been five days," Alec pointed out as his brow furrowed further. "I really think you ought to go to a GP."

"It'll pass," Rose brushed off his concern with a wave of her hand.

"You've been throwing up every morning this week, barely eating, and nauseous all day," Alec retorted, eyebrow arched.

Rose ignored him, reaching for the TV remote.

"Is there anything on tonight?" Rose asked, frowning as she flicked through the TV channels. "What do we usually watch?"

Alec grumbled under his breath as Rose turned her attention to the TV.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: In which Alec escorts a pirate around Broadchurch…**

Rose was exhausted. She'd spent the day trekking round Broadchurch, trying to find any job vacancies. Of course, there weren't many because it was the end of October, so no one wanted help for the tourist season yet, and those that weren't hiring wanted people with specific skills. All skills that Rose didn't have, in things such as construction or electrics. Alec had taken Tony to work with him, it was the last day of half term, the 31st of October, and the boy was ridiculously excited that Alec was taking him trick-or-treating that night. How Alec had gotten permission from Elaine to take the boy to the station, Rose wasn't sure, but she was grateful because it at least gave her time to attempt to get a new job. But now, she was back home, feet sore and nausea roiling in her stomach. She was still ill, two weeks later, but she'd been hiding it from Alec so that her partner didn't panic. It was sure to pass soon, anyway.

She knew she should probably get a start on dinner, particularly if Alec was taking Tony trick-or-treating at half six. Ellie was taking Fred too, the two and a half year old demanding to be taken. Tom was making his own way around, going to a Halloween party at a friend's house. But Rose knew Tony would try to avoid dinner as much as possible, the same as he had the year before, just so he could eat more sweets later. And Rose herself was still feeling nauseous at the thought of food; she really wasn't sure whether she could even stomach the food preparation that afternoon. But Alec would want food, and so would Freya, and even though Tony was planning on eating loads of sweets later in the evening, he would have to eat dinner before going out. But Alec and Tony wouldn't be back from the station until just after five, and Freya would probably be back about the same time. It was three o'clock. Suddenly feeling rather tired, Rose supposed it wouldn't hurt to have a nap…

**~StormWolf10~**

"Tony, put that down, please."

Tony blinked, and slid the stapler back onto the desk. Moments later, the boy had his head in the filing cabinet. Alec sighed. He was very quickly losing the will to live. A glance at the clock on the computer he was working on told him that there was still an hour and a half until he finished work. Why he'd thought it would be a good idea to bring his partner's seven year old brother to work with him, Alec couldn't remember. All he knew was, he regretted it. Rubbing his eyes behind his glasses and sighing again, Alec leaned back in his chair. Tony was so hyped up about trick-or-treating that night that the Scotsman wasn't sure giving him more sugar would help. By the end of the night, he'd surely be bouncing off the walls.

"Alec?" Tony asked suddenly, pulling his head out the filing cabinet. "How are you related to me?"

Alec blinked at the sudden question, unsure how to answer.

"Well," Alec began, brow furrowing as he tried to answer. "I suppose I'm your brother in law."

"But you're not married to Rose," Tony stated, brow furrowing.

Alec shook his head in agreement.

"No, I'm not. But technically, I suppose I _am_ your brother in law, as your sister and I are in a relationship."

Tony screwed up his nose.

"An' that makes me Freya's Uncle?" Tony asked, nose wrinkling in uncertain disgust. "Even though I'm seven and she's seventeen."

Alec nodded. Tony thought for a few moments and, just when Alec had thought it safe to go back to his paperwork, the boy spoke again.

"Does that mean Jimmy Stone was my brother in law?"

Alec's head shot up at that, brow furrowed.

"No," he replied slowly, "because he and Rose were dating but not in a full-on relationship. It's different, because your sister and I have vowed to stay together, even though we're not married."

Tony blinked.

"But that practically _is_ marriage!" the boy protested in confusion. "Why not just marry her?"

Alec avoided the question for a few moments, thinking hard. Then, he spoke.

"Tony, where's all this come from?"

Tony shrugged.

"Mrs Andrews says we're doing family trees at school in a few weeks," Tony explained. "Told us to start making lists of who's in our family. An' you and Freya _are_ my family."

Alec blinked at that, unsure what to say. Then, a slow smile spread across his face.

"Yeah?" Alec asked.

"_Yeah_," Tony responded, rolling his eyes as if it were obvious.

Alec couldn't help but wonder if Tony had been spending too much time around Freya and Tom. The seven year old was beginning to pick up more teenage mannerisms that either Rose or Alec were comfortable with, and although he'd made lots of friends at school and in the football team, he still insisted on trailing after Tom. Alec wondered what would happen when Tom got even older and didn't want a young boy like Tony following him around. Realising he was still staring, Alec blinked, nodding slowly.

"Ok then," Alec murmured, returning his attention to his computer screen.

He heard Tony huff as the boy realised the conversation was over, and turned back to investigate the filing cabinet.

**~StormWolf10~**

Alec Hardy sulked. Why he'd agreed to take Tony trick-or-treating, he'd never know. The boy- dressed as a pirate- was bounding along beside him, a plastic cauldron filled with sweets hanging from his hands. It was cold and foggy, and while it certainly added to the atmosphere of the night, Alec was certain it was going to rain soon. Grumbling under his breath and drawing his coat around him a little tighter, he watched as Tony bounded up to the next front door. Almost immediately, Alec froze. He recognised the house. Knew it all too well, in fact. He'd tried to avoid this area of Broadchurch ever since the closure of the Daniel Latimer case. And he'd succeeded, too, despite how small the seaside town actually was. But now, with Tony apparently oblivious and hyped up on sweets, Alec had no choice but to join him at the door. He watched, uncomfortable, as the door swung open.

"Ah, another pirate!" Mark Latimer announced with a chuckle as he saw Tony, grinning, on his doorstep. Then, Mark spotted Alec. His smile faded slightly, but it remained genuine, for which Alec was grateful- and relieved. "Alec," Mark acknowledged, nodding at the DI.

"Mark," Alec responded with an incline of his head.

Alec watched in silence then, hands in his pockets as Mark handed over some sweets to Tony. He could hear the sound of a baby crying from inside the house, and recalled that Beth and Mark had had another child, another boy, back in April the previous year. He was over a year old now, Alec realised. He hadn't ever seen the child, little Jack Latimer, but he'd heard from other people that he looked very similar to how Daniel had looked at that age, with dark hair and wide eyes. It was then that Alec had decided it would be best to stay away. And then, Tony was trotting towards him, startling Alec out of his thoughts as he grabbed his hand and tugged him to the next house. Out of instinct, Alec glanced at Mark, who nodded goodbye. Alec responded, and then the door shut.

The rest of the evening wasn't nearly as bad as the awkward encounter at the Latimers', but it did start raining. Tony didn't seem bothered, though, because by the time the heavens opened, he had enough sweets to last him a week. He thrust the plastic container of sweets into Alec's hand and then ran off in front, knowing the route home off by heart. Alec watched the boy go, a small frown on his face. He and Rose still hadn't discussed kids, not really. They'd talked about it, not long after she and Tony had moved in, about how it was something neither of them would object to, but all three bedrooms of the fairly small house were occupied, and they weren't sure how Freya would take it, particularly with all the problems with Maisie up in Scotland (although Alec and Rose both knew that was due to Bea's and Neil's lack of respect towards the teenager). The discussions had dwindled, though, Rose deeming it too early in the relationship to start trying for kids. But, the truth of it was, Alec didn't want a huge age gap between his kids; Freya was already seventeen, and although a large age gap really couldn't be avoided now, he didn't want to waste any more time. As it was, Rose had only been a year older than Freya was now when her parents had had Tony, and Alec knew that the age gap between Freya and any subsequent siblings would be the same as that, if not bigger. But it was strange, Alec decided, it was weird that he had to spend more time looking after his partner's brother, his brother in law, than his own daughter. And although he couldn't blame Rose, or her parents, for that, Alec couldn't help but realise that- if something were to happen to him and Rose- Freya would be in the same situation, with any siblings that came along out of Alec's relationship with Rose. With a sigh, he wondered whether to broach the subject with Rose when he got home.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: In which Freya meets a boy and Rose has news for Alec…**

Rose Tyler was late. She'd been sick for weeks, every morning without fail. She had near-constant nausea; the smell of coffee had suddenly made her stomach turn one morning. All the signs had been there, and truthfully Rose had already suspected the reason why. The little white stick in her hand just confirmed it. October had given way to November, and after being sick for nearly three weeks in a row, as well as missing her latest period, Rose knew she had to take a test. And it had come back positive. Truthfully, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry as she stared at the pregnancy test in her hands. There were five more just like it next to the sink, all showing the same result. They'd cost her a small fortune, the woman in the pharmacy had recommended some digital pregnancy test, that showed the number of weeks too. Rose had almost had a heart attack when she realised she was already ten weeks gone. It wasn't as if she didn't want the baby, because she did, and she knew Alec did as well. But it was all so… Sudden. Unexpected. Just the other day, she and Alec had had another talk, about whether the time was right to begin trying for a baby. It appeared, however, they'd already achieved that goal, and now Rose was sat in the bathroom of their house, speechless as she desperately tried to work out how she was going to tell Alec the news.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm her nerves, she considered phoning Donna. Or Ellie. They were her two confidantes, her two best friends in Broadchurch. She'd rapidly made friends with many of the other Broadchurch residents, of course, and often chatted with Maggie, or Paul, or Becca. But this was not the time to call Donna or Ellie, or ask for advice from people she wasn't particularly close with, not with the risk of it spreading round the town like wildfire. With another deep breath, Rose reached for her phone and dialled a familiar number. She waited with baited notice for the person on the other end to pick up.

"Shareen?" Rose announced as her call was answered. "I have a situation."

**~StormWolf10~**

Freya sat behind the desk at reception, watching people enter and leave the gym. She'd worked there over a year now, and was still on reception. She was beginning to lose all hope of a promotion. All she ever got to do was sit there and answer the phone, or book people into the gym for sessions with trainers. Occasionally, she sold a membership card. That was the positive of working at the gym, Freya decided; she got free membership. It would have cost her a fortune, otherwise. But she didn't really get the time to take full advantage of all the equipment there, and spent most of her time watching all the fit boys go in and out. They never seemed to notice her, though.

"Uh, hello?"

Freya jerked from her thoughts at the sound of the voice, almost falling off her chair as her whole body jerked at the sound. In front of her, looking a little sheepish, was a tall boy, about her age, with carefully styled black hair and concerned brown eyes.

"Sorry," the boy continued quickly in concern. "Didn't mean to startle you. I've got a session scheduled with Brad at half eleven?"

Freya blinked, and then turned to the computer.

"No problem," she told the boy after finding her voice, giving him a somewhat shy smile. "And what's your name?"

"Sam," the boy replied. "Sam Flint."

Freya typed Sam's name into the computer system, waiting for a few moments before the computerised system confirmed his scheduled session. Quickly, Freya tapped at the keyboard, showing that he had showed to his session.

"If you go on through to the changing room, you can find yourself a locker," Freya told Sam with a small smile. "Brad's just finishing up with another gym member at the moment, but if you head on over to the equipment, he'll meet you there."

Sam nodded, thanking Freya before hoisting his sports bag up and heading off to the locker room. Freya tried her best not to stare at his bum as he walked away.

**~StormWolf10~**

Alec was watching Rose carefully as she made her way around their bedroom, getting ready for bed. She'd been tense ever since he'd gotten home, and he had no idea what was going on, other than Rose had looked like she had been about to speak several times.

"Rose?"Alec asked after several long moments of silence, brow furrowed. "Are you alright?"

Rose glanced over her shoulder, offering him a weak smile and a nod. Alec looked unconvinced.

"Has something happened?" the Scotsman pressed, beginning to push the duvet back and climb out of bed. "Is this about not being able to find a job?"

Rose sighed, and shook her head.

"Of course not, Alec," Rose sighed as she finally finished changing and crossed to the bed. "I just… Something happened, today. So I phoned one of my friends from London, Shareen."

"And did she help?" Alec asked, brow still furrowed in confusion. Although Rose often phoned her friends in London, she rarely brought it up as part of an important conversation.

Rose scoffed at that.

"Shareen? Help?" Rose asked, a small but genuine smile growing on her face. "Not likely. Still, it was good to talk to her, hadn't phoned for a few weeks…" She trailed off, shook her head, continued. "Anyway, like I said, she wasn't particularly helpful, but at least she just listened to what I said."

Alec looked a little hurt then, as he reclaimed his side of the bed.

"And you'd rather make a phone call to London than talk about the problem with me?" he asked, brow furrowing further.

Rose immediately shook her head, reaching for Alec's hand.

"No!" she responded quickly. "No, but… Well, I couldn't come to you with the problem because… Well, I wasn't sure how to tell you. That's why I phoned Shareen."

"Right," Alec said slowly. "And can you tell me now?"

Rose took a breath, looking away for a few moments and biting her lip as she frowned to herself. Finally, after several moments, she spoke.

"I know we only talked about it a few days ago, and I know it's all so sudden and unplanned, but…" Rose paused, looking up at Alec with wide eyes, panicked. "Just promise you won't be mad, yeah?"

Alec blinked.

"Rose," he began slowly, keeping her gaze. "You're beginning to scare me."

Rose closed her eyes for a few moments, breathing deeply. Then, she opened her eyes and met Alec's gaze.

"I'm pregnant."

Alec stared. Rose waited for the penny to drop. And, ten seconds later, it did. Alec's eyes widened as it dawned on him what he'd been told. Moments later, a smile spread across his face.

"You're pregnant?" he echoed in disbelief.

Rose nodded, still not a hundred percent sure of her partner's reaction.

"Ten weeks," Rose responded slightly nervously, watching Alec carefully.

"We're going to have a baby?" Alec continued, apparently still shocked.

Rose nodded again, but was beginning to relax as she realised Alec was excited about the prospect of another child so soon. It didn't take long before they were both grinning. Then, before Rose knew it, Alec was pulling her closer, kissing her soundly.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: In which Ellie and Donna get involved, Alec speaks Scottish, and Freya and Tony are informed of the changes in their lives...**

Less than twenty-four hours after Rose had discovered she was pregnant, she was terrified. She and Alec had spent much of the night making love to each other, before the conversation turned to their unborn child in Rose's womb. However, it hadn't been long into the conversation that they realised there was a string of people who they would have to tell about the newest addition to their family. Of course they'd have to tell their friends, like Ellie, Donna and Wilf, and Alec supposed he'd have to phone his Dad in Scotland too. But the most important people who would have to be told were Freya and Tony.

Rose and Alec were up early that day, in the kitchen as they tried to discuss the best way to tell Freya and Tony about the baby.

"So we've agreed we'll talk to them separately?" Rose asked, frowning as she took a sip of her tea.

Alec nodded, rubbing at his eyes as he leant against the kitchen worktop.

"Yeah, I think that'll be best," Alec responded, before frowning. "I hope Freya will be alright with it."

Rose bit her lip.

"I hope _Tony_ will be alright with it," Rose murmured. "I mean, he's never really been around any babies. I mean, he's been around Fred, of course, but other than that…" She trailed off, paused. Then her eyes widened. "Alec," she began slowly looking up to meet her partner's gaze.

"Yeah?" Alec asked, frowning as he met her worried gaze. Moments later, he was in the seat opposite her. "What's the matter?"

"Tony's gonna wanna know where this baby came from," Rose pointed out, expression torn between horror and amusement.

Alec blinked.

"Ah," he murmured after a few moments. "We didn't think of that, did we?"

Rose shook her head, biting her lip. They descended into silence for a few moments, as they thought hard.

"We're telling them together though, yeah?" Rose asked suddenly, concern in her eyes. "Unless you'd rather just tell Freya on your own." She paused. "But I'd rather have you there when I have to tell Tony."

Alec nodded.

"I'll have to think about speaking to Freya, though. It depends on what mood she's in when she's gotten home from work," Alec pointed out. "And it depends if Bea's been trying to phone her again."

Rose opened her mouth to respond, but then there was the sound of movement from above them, and moments later, there were footsteps on the stairs. With Tony and Freya up and moving about, it was clear they weren't going to get any more time to discuss the situation.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Ellie? Can I speak to you for a minute? In my office?"

Ellie blinked, looking over at Alec from where she was stood in the small kitchen area at the station.

"Uh, sure," Ellie responded with a frown. Truthfully, she was grateful, as Brian was trying to ask her out again, and it gave her a reason to hide out in Alec's office for half hour or so.

But then all feelings of gratefulness were gone as she took one look at Alec's tense face, and Ellie realised that there was something serious he needed to discuss. Abandoning her coffee mug on the kitchen worktop, she hurried after Alec as he led her into his office. As soon as Ellie was inside, she watched in shock as Alec proceeded to shut and lock the door and pull down all the blinds in his office.

"Alec?" Ellie asked, growing concerned. "Is everything alright?"

Alec turned round to face her, wide-eyed.

"Ellie, I need your help," Alec began carefully.

Ellie nodded, immediately taking a seat on his sofa.

"Is it Rose?" Ellie asked, trying to rationalise the situation, find out what was wrong. "Or Freya? Tony?"

"Sort of," Alec responded, suddenly sighing and dropping to sit on the edge of his desk.

Ellie blinked.

"What do you mean, 'sort of'?" Ellie asked, brow furrowing.

Alec took a deep breath, his attention suddenly caught by the photo of him, Rose, Freya and Tony. He smiled, and it was only when Ellie cleared her throat that he remembered he wasn't alone. Blinking, and clearing his throat, he returned his attention to Ellie.

"The thing is, Carter," Alec began, and Ellie rolled her eyes. She was back to being called 'Carter', was she? "The thing is, Rose and I need help. Well, advice." Alec paused and took a deep breath, noticing that he only seemed to be confusing Ellie. "We, uh, we found out yesterday that Rose is pregnant."

A grin spread across Ellie's face then, and with a grin she launched herself at Alec, hugging him.

"I'm so pleased for you! The pair of you!" Ellie announced happily once she finally released Alec.

The Scotsman was grinning too, and Ellie was relieved that he looked so happy. But then again, she mused, he'd often looked so happy since he and Rose had become a couple.

"Why did you need to talk to me, though?" Ellie continued as she reclaimed her seat on the sofa, frowning.

"Rose and I… We haven't told Freya and Tony yet," Alec admitted carefully. "And we're not entirely sure how to tell them."

Ellie nodded in understanding. She still remembered when they'd had to explain that she was pregnant to a then-ten year old Tom. She remembered how nerve-wracking it could be, to tell a child of that age that they would no longer be an only child. It had been hard enough telling a ten year old; Ellie dreaded what it would be like telling a seventeen year old.

"You're worried about telling Freya, aren't you?" Ellie asked quietly.

Alec sniffed, before reluctantly nodding.

"I mean, she loves Rose, of course she does. But Freya's reaction to Bea having Maisie… She came back from Scotland infuriated…" Alec shook his head, trailing off. "I mean, most of her anger was about how Bea and Neil hardly even gave her a second thought, hardly even tried to help her settle in for her stay… But at the same time, they were new parents; they had a one year old to care for."

Alec trailed off then, looking up at Ellie. She was immediately taken aback by the look of sheer panic in Alec's eyes, a look she'd only ever seen once before, when he'd collapsed after chasing Joe from the house over two years ago.

"What if she feels the same, Ellie? What if she feels the same about mine and Rose's baby? What am I supposed to do?"

Ellie blinked, barely even registering that Alec was back to calling her 'Ellie'. She was instead too wrapped up in the realisation that Alec was scared, genuinely scared about upsetting his daughter, about upsetting Rose, about the family he'd only just gotten falling apart around his ears…

It was then that Ellie became aware of the fact Alec was still waiting for an answer, and she hastened for a reply.

"Look, Alec, the one thing you can do is talk to her. Think about it carefully; plan what you're going to say. And you need to think about whether or not it would be a good idea for Rose to be there."

Alec nodded miserably.

"We already discussed that this morning," Alec admitted quietly. "Rose has already said she wants me there when she tells her brother." He paused then, brow furrowing. "Tony's the only family she's got really, besides me and Freya. She's got you, and Wilf and Donna too, of course, but… If Tony gets upset about the idea, if he gets angry…. I don't know what will happen."

**~StormWolf10~**

Rose sat in a quiet village café, watching the door nervously. She was beginning to regret the whole thing, and was even toying with the idea of just going home, when the door opened and Donna Noble stepped in. The quaint little bell above the door rang as the door opened and shut, alerting the café manager to Donna's presence. Spotting Rose, Donna waved and gestured to the counter. Rose shook her head and waited patiently while Donna bought herself a coffee and crossed to the table she was sat at. As Donna sat down, Rose wrinkled her nose at the smell of her friend's drink, and hastily unscrewed the lid on her bottle of mineral water.

"So, spill," Donna announced with a grin as she leant forward. "I've only got forty minutes before I've gotta get back to the office."

Rose downed a few sips of water and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, before leaning forward in her seat.

"You can't tell anyone about what I'm gonna say, yeah?" Rose told her friend nervously. "Not even Wilf. Not yet. No one can know yet."

Donna's eyes widened.

"Are you and Alec alright?" the redhead asked nervously.

Rose smiled, a true, genuine smile that seemed to settle Donna's fears just a little.

"We're fine," Rose responded calmly, still smiling. She ducked her head momentarily. "Well, maybe a bit more than fine."

Donna's eyebrow rose, and she smirked at the younger woman.

"Oh yeah?" Donna asked. "And why exactly did you beg me to come meet you here on my lunch hour? So that you can tell me how great Alec is in bed? Just because you don't have to work doesn't mean the rest of us don't!"

Rose blushed then, and she shook her head.

"Donna," she sighed, sure to keep her voice down from the nosy café manager, "I didn't ask you here to tell you how great Alec is in bed. I…. I asked you to come here 'cause I have something to tell you."

Rose paused then, suddenly unsure. Donna leant forward expectantly.

"Yeah?" Donna prompted, a grin spreading across her face.

Rose nodded mutely. Then, taking a quick look around to make sure no one would hear, she leant across the table as Donna leant even further forward. Then, with a grin, Rose spoke.

"I'm pregnant."

Donna blinked. Then grinned.

"You and Alec…?" Donna began as it dawned on her.

Rose nodded, still beaming.

"Are gonna be parents," Rose concluded. "Well," she conceded after a moment, "second time round for Alec. But still! We're having a baby!"

Donna then screamed. Rose winced, and quickly kicked her friend's leg under the table.

"Stop it! You'll attract a bloody audience!" Rose hissed, but she was laughing.

In truth, other than a few elderly village residents and the café manager, they were alone in the quaint little village café. But still, until she and Alec were ready to tell other people, they wanted it to stay quiet.

"Sorry!" Donna chuckled after calming herself. "But I can tell Gramps, right?"

Rose sighed, smile fading as she bit her lip. She thought for a few moments.

"Ok," she responded after a while. "But don't phone until at least tomorrow. We haven't had a chance to tell Freya yet, or Tony."

Donna winced.

"How do you think they're going to take it?" she asked uncertainly.

Rose shrugged, and sighed again.

"We're not sure," Rose admitted quietly. "Alec's considering speaking to Freya on his own, but we're telling Tony together."

"Well that's gonna bring about awkward questions!" Donna laughed quietly.

Rose smiled, shaking her head.

"Oh, don't remind me!" she responded, chuckling slightly. "I am _so_ not looking forward to that part of the conversation!"

**~StormWolf10~**

Alec frowned at his phone, before glancing up at Ellie. She was stood in front of his desk, arms folded across her chest as she glared at him.

"Go on," she told him sternly.

Alec grumbled under his breath as he picked up his phone. Then he paused, dropping it back onto the desk.

"You don't think this is all happening too fast, do you, Ellie?" Alec asked, sounding nervous for quite possibly the first time since Ellie had met him.

Ellie sighed.

"Alec, it's a baby. Of course it's too fast," Ellie responded with a small smile. "Everything about a baby seems to happen too fast. If what you told me was right, it'll be here in about six and a half months."

Alec paled at that.

"That wasn't what I meant," he responded tensely. "But thanks for that reminder, Carter." He paused, then met her gaze again. "I meant me and Rose. Do you think this is too soon? I've not even known her two years, and already we're having a child together! We've barely lived together for more than nine months!"

"Alec," Ellie broke in calmly, although her eyes showed how sympathetic she felt, "that's life. Things always seem to go too fast, whenever it's something we're worried about, or want to wait on. Like Joe's trial. The more I worried about it, the faster the time seemed to go before the trial, and I felt like I barely had time to prepare…" She trailed off, paused, took a deep breath. "You and Rose are having a baby in less than seven months; no amount of wishing otherwise will slow that down. You only have a limited amount of time to explain to Tony that he's going to be an Uncle, explain to Freya that she'll have another little half brother or sister. Alec, if you sit about and fret about this for too long, you're going to have virtually no time to prepare for the birth, for the arrival of yours and Rose's child. And this can't be put off, you know it can't. You have to make this call sooner or later, and sooner would be preferable."

Elle stopped speaking then, watching Alec carefully.

"I'll leave you to it," she told him quietly.

She didn't even stop to see if Alec noticed she was leaving, and moments later, Ellie had left the office. Alec sighed, scrubbing a hand over his eyes before scratching at his coarse beard. He knew Ellie was right; he remembered all too well how Freya's birth had seemed to rush up on them, how he'd barely even put the crib together before she was born. He wouldn't- couldn't- let that happen this time. Uncertainly, he reached for his mobile and dialled a number that used to be oh-so familiar, one he hadn't dialled in such a long time. He held the mobile to his ear and listened as the phone rang one, two, three, four, five times. And then, the person on the other end picked up.

"Hello, Dad," Alec began quietly. "I've got some news for you."

He could hear his Dad's shocked tones across the phone line as his Dad greeted him. He seemed confused, and rightly so, Alec decided; Donald and Alec Hardy hadn't spoken to each other since the Sandbrook incident. Instead, Alec had fled to Broadchurch, cutting himself off from everyone but his daughter. Realising that his Dad knew nothing about his life from the past two years or so, Alec somewhat sketchily explained.

"And you see, Dad," Alec concluded after a quick explanation of him buying a house in Broadchurch and becoming friends with Ellie, how he'd met Rose, how she and Tony had moved in with him at the beginning of the year, and how come Freya had moved down with him, "that's the thing. Rose and I, we're together. And… And you're gonna be a Granddad again. Rose is pregnant."

He waited with baited breath then, unsure what his Dad would have to say about the situation.

"No, Dad," Alec sighed after a few moments of his Dad's sudden, worry-filled rant, "Rose is nothing like Bea was… I'm sure you'd love her…" He trailed off as Donald interrupted again. "I'm not being glaikit, Dad," Alec sighed again, quickly becoming agitated. "I only phoned because I thought you should know. I know, I know, I've been terrible about staying in touch, but I'm trying to fix that, Dad, with this phone call… There'll be another wee bairn running around, and I thought you'd like to know… Thought you'd like to know about your Grandchild."

**~StormWolf10~**

Tony Tyler was suspicious. He'd been suspicious when both Rose and Alec had picked him up from school, because Alec _never_ finished much before five, and was certainly never around to pick him up from school. His sister and brother-in-law were trying to act like normal, like nothing was going on, but Tony could tell. Plus Rose was acting funny. It was like when Rose had had to tell him about their Dad dying. She'd taken him out for ice cream first, Tony recalled; she'd turned up at school halfway through the morning, spoken with his teacher and taken him out of school. She'd bought him a new toy dragon and bought him chips, and took him to Trafalgar Square to eat them before they went home. And he'd been able to tell, the whole time, that something was different.

Rose was acting like that now, and Tony was beginning to worry. Was something wrong? Was Alec unwell again? The only time Tony could recall the man not being at work had been after his operation, after he'd come out of hospital. He hadn't had another operation, had he?

By dinnertime, with Freya back, Tony was growing more suspicious and more worried. He forced a smile as Rose placed his dinner in front of him, but picked at the food, unable to stomach actually eating it. Finally, with dinner done (and Tony earning himself worried looks from both his sister and brother-in-law at his lack of appetite), Rose and Alec broke the inane conversation.

"We need to speak to the pair of you, but separately," Alec began carefully, before turning to Freya. "Freya, could you go up to your room while Rose and I talk with Tony? It won't be for long, and there's nothing… There's nothing wrong. There's just something we need to explain to you, separately."

Looking rather worried at the news, Freya nodded and got to her feet. Moments later, they heard her heading up to her bedroom. Assured that the teenager was now in her room, Rose reached for her brother's hand, tugging him to his feet and leading him into the sitting room.

"Did I do something wrong?" Tony asked, brow furrowing as he was encouraged onto the sofa.

"No, of course not! Alec and I need to have a chat with you, that's all," Rose assured her brother gently, smoothing his blonde hair back from his forehead.

Rose had settled on the sofa next to her brother, while Alec opted for the armchair.

"The thing is, see," Rose began, suddenly hesitant and unsure, "in a few months' time, there's gonna be someone else living with us."

"Why?" Tony asked, brow furrowed. "There aren't any bedrooms left."

Rose bit her lip, and looked to her partner for help. Taking one look at Rose's face and realising she was struggling with the explanation, Alec waded into the conversation.

"Tony," Alec announced carefully, leaning forward in his chair, "you know your sister and I are together, yes?"

The seven year old nodded.

"Well," Alec continued, "Rose and I are having a baby together. We know it's a bit of a surprise, and it was for us too, but in a few months, there'll be a new baby in the house."

Tony thought for a few moments, looking from Alec to Rose, and back again.

"But you'll still have time for me, yeah?" the seven year old asked nervously. "And I still get to go to football, and stuff?"

"Of course," Rose responded quickly, giving her brother a reassuring smile as she pressed another kiss to his forehead.

Tony thought for another few moments before speaking.

"And that'll make me an Uncle?" he asked.

Both adults nodded. Tony thought hard. Finally he spoke again.

"Ok."

**~StormWolf10~**

Freya sat in the armchair, watching her Dad and Rose carefully.

"What's this news, then?" she asked, picking at her nails. "Can't be that bad, Tony seemed quite happy when he went upstairs to play in his room."

Alec rubbed at his eyes, nodding.

"Tony… Tony took it well," Alec agreed after a few moments. "Although we're going to keep an eye on him; we're not quite sure he's fully understood the implications."

Freya paled slightly at that.

"Ok, now you're worrying me," Freya murmured, watching the two adults nervously.

It had eventually been agreed that Rose would sit in, but now she was unsure.

"Maybe I should leave you two to it," she announced suddenly, making to get to her feet.

Alec grabbed her arm, though, pulling Rose back onto the sofa even as Freya said "You don't have to". Nervously, Rose reclaimed her seat, taking a deep breath.

"Freya," Alec began carefully, "I know we said months ago that, if ever we were to decide to… Expand the family, we'd speak to you and Tony first-"

"Ah," Freya suddenly grinned. "You wanna have kids!" She then paused. "But you're seriously asking my permission? Why would you do that?"

"Freya-" Alec began again.

"Seriously," Freya continued, oblivious, "you don't have to ask me." She then wrinkled her nose. "I don't really want to think about it…"

Rose was looking more and more nervous now, and Alec was growing a bit panicked too.

"Freya," he cut in quickly, "we're not asking your permission. We're telling you. Rose is already pregnant."

Freya blinked.

"Oh," she responded quietly. "How far along?"

"Ten weeks," Rose replied, voice equally as soft as she wrung her hands nervously.

Freya nodded slowly, looking anywhere but Rose and Alec.

"If it's any consolation, it was a shock to us too," Rose continued suddenly, shocking herself as well as Alec and Freya. "Only found out yesterday. Haven't even had a scan yet."

Freya nodded again. And then, to their surprise, she smiled.

"So I'm gonna be a big sister?" she asked, before adding: "Again?"

Alec and Rose nodded, both apparently relaxing as the girl calmed.

"As long as you don't refer to me as the 'half sister'," Freya joked, this time with a smile that didn't meet her eyes.

"We never would," Alec promised quickly, voice low. Rose quickly voiced a similar statement.

Freya nodded, a smile back on her face. Then, she got to her feet and crossed to the sofa, hugging Rose, and then her Dad.

"I'm glad for you both," she told them as she stepped back with a grin. "I really am. But if it's all the same to you, think I'll give the pair of you a bit of space. If you need me, I'll be in my room."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: In which Rose gets a job of sorts, and Tony puts his foot in it…**

By early December, both Freya and Tony seemed to settle into the idea of Alec and Rose having a baby, although there were admittedly some worrying times when they changed their minds. Still, only a handful of people knew about the pregnancy outside of the family- and really, that was only Ellie and her boys, and Wilf and Donna- even despite Rose having gone for her scan. Alec had even managed to get the afternoon off to accompany her, but he'd insisted to Elaine that it was a medical check-up for Rose.

Beyond that, they'd sworn Freya and Tony to secrecy about the baby, explaining to them that they wanted to tell people in their own time. At only three and a half months gone, Rose's stomach was still relatively flat, and no one would suspect she was pregnant at all.

"So when the baby comes," Tony announced that morning through a mouthful of cereal, "where will it sleep?"

"In mine and Alec's room for the first few months," Rose replied as she set a plate of toast in front of Freya and seated herself opposite her brother. "Maybe even a year, depending on how long it takes the baby to sleep through the night."

Tony's brow furrowed.

"But then where?" the boy insisted as he shoved another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Rose told her brother quickly, frowning. She watched as Tony quickly swallowed his food. "And I suppose the baby will either sleep in your room, or Freya's. Depending on whether it's a boy or a girl."

Freya wrinkled her nose slightly.

"Not until it can sleep through the night though, yeah?" the seventeen year old asked.

Rose grinned.

"Nah, not until the baby's sleeping through the night," she agreed. "Maybe even a bit longer, it'll depend on how me and your Dad are feeling."

Freya nodded in understanding, but Tony still looked confused.

"Why can't we just get a bigger house?" Tony asked in confusion.

Rose sighed.

"Because houses cost a lot of money, Tony," Rose explained to her brother. "And I still haven't been able to find another job, which means Alec is the one paying all the bills. We might move house, in a year or so, but it'll take a while to save up a deposit, and we'd have to get a mortgage and stuff. There's a lot of paperwork that goes into moving house, Tony. I doubt it'll happen anytime soon, and certainly not before the baby comes."

Tony wrinkled his nose.

"But my room…" he began in confusion, brow furrowing. "With the, the paintings you did! And my pirate flag!"

"They can all stay, Tony," Rose assured her brother with a smile. "Like I said, Alec and I will have the baby in with us for the first few months, if not the first year. We won't make you change your room loads, you just might have to move some stuff about."

**~StormWolf10~**

After dropping Tony off at school, Rose made it her mission to head round the last few remaining shops in Broadchurch she hadn't tried to get employed at. Quite frankly, the situation was getting ridiculous, and although she knew that it was because of the economy that people couldn't afford to take more staff on, Rose was getting royally sick of being turned down. But then again, she was beginning to wonder whether Alec had had the right idea; he'd said she didn't have to work. He earned enough money to pay the bills and the mortgage and the food shopping, plus Freya had even started paying rent (Rose and Alec had tried to refuse at first, but the girl was insistent, particularly with them having a baby on the way). Rose couldn't deny she wasn't tempted by the idea of not working, and she really hated the idea of working in another shop, but she couldn't just sit at home all day. Maybe once the baby was born she could, because she'd have the baby to keep her busy, but before then she would just be bored out of her mind. She had to find something, get out of the house…

And then, she had an idea. She'd bumped into Reverend Paul Coates as she'd returned from taking Tony to school, and he'd mentioned in passing that he was currently organising a Christmas food bank, for those in the town and surrounding villages that were struggling to make ends meet that Christmas. He'd mentioned he wanted volunteers, and although it would end after Christmas, it would keep Rose busy until then, right? With a grin, Rose turned around and set off for the church.

**~StormWolf10~**

When Rose reached the church, it looked like no one was there. A little uncertain (and a little nervous about entering an empty church alone), Rose pushed open the large wooden doors and made her way inside.

"Hello?" she called uncertainly as she looked around. The building looked empty. "Paul?"

There was movement from a door to the side of the altar, and moments later, the door opened.

"Oh, Rose!" Paul jumped as he saw her. "Thought I heard someone out here. What can I do for you?"

As he spoke, the vicar made his way towards her, and Rose met him halfway.

"Well, I was thinking, about what you said earlier," Rose explained quickly. "About needing volunteers to help sort the food for the Christmas food bank. And, well, I can't find a job, and figured you might just… Want some help."

She trailed off awkwardly then, unsure. Paul, however, beamed.

"You're volunteering?" he asked.

Rose nodded.

"Alec said he wouldn't be bothered if I didn't get another job now the supermarket's let me go," she explained with a shrug, "but I can't just sit around all day. I can't get another job, so I figured I could volunteer here while you need me."

"Well, it would certainly make things easier on me," Paul agreed, still smiling. "I've not got as many volunteers as I'd like."

"Well," Rose shrugged, "I'm happy to help out. When do you want me here?"

Paul thought for a few moments.

"Well, how about tomorrow morning, at about ten?" Paul asked after a moment or two. "I've got Beth Latimer helping out tomorrow, and a few of the Mums whose kids are at nursery. We should be finished in time for you to pick Tony up from school."

Rose nodded.

"See you tomorrow then?" she asked with a grin.

"See you tomorrow," Paul agreed with a smile.

As Rose left the church, she grinned to herself.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Now," Mrs Andrews announced as she turned back to the whiteboard. "Anyone want to volunteer?"

The class remained uncomfortably silent as the seven and eight year olds all looked at each other. Mrs Andrews sighed as she glanced over her shoulder at them.

"Alright, then," she announced with a strained smile, "how about Tony Tyler?"

Tony blinked, looking up at the sound of his name. He opened his mouth to protest, but Mrs Andrews had already returned her attention to the board.

"Now," she continued, glancing over her shoulder to check the class was listening as she wrote on the board, "we'll write Tony's name on here, like this…"

The class watched as she wrote Tony's name in the middle of the board before turning back to them.

"And you have an older sister, don't you, Tony?" Mrs Andrews continued.

Tony blinked and nodded.

"Yeah," he replied. "Rose."

He frowned then. Everyone knew he had an older sister. He lived with her… But then Mrs Andrews was writing on the board again, oblivious to the confused look on Tony' face. He wrote Rose's name to the left of Tony's, and connected them with a line. She then drew another line from that one, leading up.

"And what were your parents called, Tony?" Mrs Andrews asked, not looking round.

"They're dead," Tony responded.

"I know, but we'll still put them on here."

"But they're dead," Tony insisted, growing annoyed. "They don't need to go on there, they're dead!"

The boy's voice had been rising as he spoke, and the sentence ended in an infuriated shout. An uncomfortable silence followed, during which Mrs Andrews watched the boy carefully, before erasing the line she'd just drawn.

"Ok then, Tony," she continued after a few moments, voice quieter now. "Do you have any aunts or uncles? Cousins?"

Tony shrugged, glaring at the paper on his desk in front of him. He knew people were watching him, and he remained staring at the table. He was not a little kid anymore; he didn't want them to see the tears that were threatening to fall. He sniffed, and glanced up at the board.

"How about we put Alec on there, then?" Mrs Andrews asked suddenly, forcing a really fake smile that fooled none of the kids in the class.

Tony shrugged again, and watched as Mrs Andrews drew two lines off of Rose's name, and added Alec to the end. Then, another line came off of Alec's name, going down, where the teacher then wrote Freya's name.

"There we are, then," Mrs Andrews announced as she turned back to the class. "That's Tony's family tree."

Mrs Andrews continued speaking, then, as she told the class how to make their own family trees. Tony wasn't listening, though. He couldn't take his gaze off the board. That was his whole family. Just him and three other people. Except that wasn't it, was it? There were people missing. Important people, people that should be on there. He wrenched his attention back to the teacher just in time to hear the end of the explanation.

**~StormWolf10~**

His tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he concentrated, Tony Tyler drew the last connecting line on his family tree. Then, he sat back and looked at it, grinning. It was much better than the rubbish one Mrs Andrews had drawn on the board. Much more realistic. It had his family on it, his whole family, and Tony couldn't wait to show it to Rose and Alec. But then Mrs Andrews was making her way around the cluster of tables, collecting everyone's family trees. A glance at the clock told Tony there was only a minute or two until the bell that signalled the end of the school day. Maybe he'd make it, maybe she wouldn't get to him…

And then, Mrs Andrews was in front of him, holding her hand out expectantly. Somewhat reluctantly, Tony handed his paper over. But Mrs Andrews didn't move. Instead, she frowned at the paper she'd just been handed.

"Tony," she began carefully, "I don't think you fully understand the idea of a family tree."

Then, to Tony's dismay, she pulled out a chair and settled herself next to him.

"You see," Mrs Andrews continued with a small smile. "A family tree shows who you're related to."

"I know," Tony replied.

"But you have people on here that aren't related to you, not by blood. You've included Ellie Carter, and her boys. They're your neighbours, yes? I know your sister and Alec are friends with Ellie, but that doesn't make her family. And, again, with Donna Noble and Wilfred Mott. They're just family friends, not family." She paused then, frowning at the paper she'd put on the desk between them. "You've included all these people that aren't related to you, but you didn't include your parents, Tony. I know you may think of your sister's friends as family, but they're not. I think, perhaps Tony, you've misunderstood what a family tree is."

Tony blinked up at Mrs Andrews, surveying her for a few moments. He'd seen Alec do it, when he was telling Freya off for getting home late, when someone had tried to steal from the newsagents' and he'd caught them. He'd just… Stare. And it would make them uncomfortable. Tony had seen the look several times now, and he gave the same look to his teacher then. After a moment or two, Mrs Andrews shifted uncomfortably. Then, Tony broke the silence.

"I think, perhaps Mrs Andrews, you've misunderstood what a family is."

The teacher blinked at the seven year old in front of her, struggling to come up with a response. After a few moments of spluttering, she returned her gaze to Tony's family tree, and realised that something wasn't right. There was an extra line, between Rose's and Alec's names.

"Tony, what's this for?" Mrs Andrews asked, even as the bell rang.

Tony made to leave as the rest of the kids scrambled for the door, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Tony," Mrs Andrews told him calmly, "you can go in a minute after you've explained this to me."

Tony sank back into his seat, unable to meet his teacher's eyes. He was hoping she wouldn't notice. He'd been sworn to secrecy on the matter, and he was beginning to wonder if he should just rub the line out, say it was a mistake. But, he knew Mrs Andrews would find out eventually, would be able to tell he was lying, and would end up asking Rose about it. With a deep breath, he mumbled his response.

"I'm sorry?" Mrs Andrews asked, brow furrowing.

"'S for Rose and Alec's baby," Tony repeated quietly.

"Rose and Alec's baby," his teacher echoed, confused. And then, it dawned on her.

Tony bit his lip as he watched his teacher's reaction. He was going to be in so much trouble…


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: In which Christmas is had, and Tony needs reassurance.**

As Christmas neared, the news that Rose Tyler and Alec Hardy were having a baby had spread. They weren't entirely sure how it happened, but Alec was willing to bet that Tony's teacher had been the one to gossip. The seven year old boy had been distraught when they realised the news had spread, and he readily blamed himself, despite both Rose and Alec assuring him that they didn't blame him. After all, he had only been doing his school work. They'd tried to perk the boy up, with Alec even taking Tony out to pick a brand new (fake) Christmas tree for the house, and Alec, Rose, Freya and Tony all put the tree together and decorated it as a group. But even that failed to get the boy really smiling again.

In the end, Rose bundled Tony onto the sofa one day at the start of the Christmas holidays, while Alec and Freya were both still working. Flicking the TV onto some kids' channel that appeared to be having a Disney marathon, Rose then pulled her brother closer to her, cuddling him close. Immediately, Tony settled into the embrace, his head going to Rose's shoulder in silence. He'd been quiet ever since they'd discovered that the news that Rose and Alec were expecting had spread through the seaside town.

"You know Alec and I don't blame you, right, sweetheart?" Rose asked suddenly, voice soft.

She felt Tony shift against her, curling further into himself.

"It wasn't your fault," Rose continued as her brother failed to respond. "You were only doing your schoolwork." She paused. "And we're very touched that you wanted to put the baby in."

Tony shrugged then, pulling away from Rose slightly to wipe at his damp eyes with the sleeves of his jumper.

"The baby's family," Tony mumbled, shrugging again. "Why wouldn't I put it in there?"

Rose smiled then, kissing her brother on the forehead. She watched then, as her brother's forehead creased in confusion.

"Why did Mrs Andrews tell everyone though?"

Rose sighed.

"I don't think she meant to, probably just came out in conversation," Rose replied.

"Alec was angry," Tony stated seriously.

Rose nodded slowly.

"Yeah, well, Alec was upset," Rose explained carefully. "We wanted to tell everyone in our own time, but it's too late now."

"He went and yelled at Mrs Andrews," Tony continued.

Rose bit her lip, blushing slightly at that.

"Yeah," Rose agreed after a moment. "He did. He shouldn't have done, but he got upset."

Tony thought for a few moments.

"Alec wasn't mad at me, though," he said after a moment. "Didn't yell at me either. But it was me who told Mrs Andrews."

"You were doing your schoolwork, sweetheart," Rose pointed out to the seven year old. "You got told to do a family tree, and that's what you did. Wasn't your fault."

They descended into silence then, Tony snuggling up to Rose as he watched the TV. For a while, they could almost pretend that they were back in their Peckham flat, and that their Dad had nipped out to try and get more investments for Vitex. But they weren't in Peckham, and Pete hadn't just nipped out for an hour or two. Biting his lip, Tony scooted a little closer to his sister.

"Doesn't it feel weird?" he asked suddenly, frowning.

"Hmm?" Rose asked, glancing down to see her brother watching her stomach carefully.

"Having a baby inside you," Tony clarified, glancing up at his sister.

Rose blinked, and stared at her brother.

"Well," Rose began after a few moments once she recovered from the initial shock of the question, "I can't really feel the baby yet. But I probably will soon."

Tony nodded distractedly as he continued to stare at Rose's stomach. In the past few days Rose had begun showing more, a small but defined bump pushing at her clothes, and Tony had been quietly observant of the whole thing. Almost as soon as she'd begun showing, Rose had suggested she and Alec sat Tony down to explain what was happening. Tony had taken it well, and had even been careful when hugging Rose in case he hurt the baby.

After a few minutes, Tony settled himself back against Rose, his gaze on the TV.

**~StormWolf10~**

As Christmas drew closer, Freya somewhat begrudgingly left for Glasgow. She'd agreed to spend Christmas with her Mum, Neil and Maisie, but only because she'd spent the previous Christmas with Alec, Rose and Tony. Alec had seen her off on the train two days before Christmas Eve, promising that if she wanted to come home early, she could.

When Christmas Day arrived, Alec and a four months pregnant Rose found themselves woken early in the morning by an excitable Tony, and they dutifully got up at seven to take Tony downstairs and open his presents. The boy had already opened the presents from his stocking before he'd even come into Rose and Alec's room to wake them.

"Better get used to it," Alec grumbled good-naturedly as he boiled the kettle for his and Rose's tea. "By this time next year, we'll have a baby in the house."

Rose grinned then, leaning forward to press a kiss to Alec's cheek.

Most of the morning was spent watching Tony unwrap his presents, as well as Alec and Rose unwrapping their own. While Tony played with his toys, Alec and Rose took it in turns to nip out to the kitchen to check on the Christmas dinner they were cooking, and soon it was time to set the table. As Tony made his way out to the kitchen, however, his face fell slightly.

"What's the matter?" Rose asked her brother in confusion as he took his seat at the table.

Tony shrugged, a little disheartened.

"Forgot Freya wasn't here," the boy explained quietly.

"She'll be back next week," Alec announced, glancing over his shoulder at the boy as he began carving the turkey.

"Yeah," Tony nodded, sounding a little wistful. "But it's… It's weird. Her not being here, though. She's missin' out."

"I'm sure she's having a great time with her Mum and step-Dad, though," Rose reminded her brother, forcing a smile.

Tony gave Rose an incredulous look. Clearly, he wasn't buying it.

"Freya _hates_ them!" the boy insisted incredulously. "Said so. She said she'd rather stay here with us, but if she stayed this year, she couldn't be here next year, for the baby's first Christmas!"

Rose blinked then, turning to look at Alec. The Scotsman was looking equally as confused as his partner; clearly he had no idea about the reasons behind Freya's decision to spend Christmas in Scotland either.

"Well," Alec piped up after a few moments of silence. "We get her next year, then."

And then, he returned to carving the turkey.

**~StormWolf10~**

Boxing Day saw Rose, Alec and Tony going next door to Ellie's for tea, and a few days later, both Alec and Ellie managed to get the time off work, as Rose and Ellie had booked tickets for the local pantomime. In all, the day out was- in Alec's opinion- expensive, loud, and embarrassing; he'd even watched as Rose had forked over several pounds for a light-up, flashing plastic wand. The bit of plastic seemed ridiculously over-priced to him, and he found his gaze falling to Rose's swollen stomach, reminding him that in a few years' time, this would be a regular occurrence for his family; spending money on over-priced souvenirs for Tony and their child.

It was a day later, however, that Alec received a phone call. He'd listened patiently as Freya tearfully explained that she'd had enough of Bea looking down her nose at her, and Neil ignoring her whenever possible, and had already boarded a train from Glasgow. She was bound for Broadchurch, after changing at Birmingham, and would be home that night.

"Freya's coming back," Alec explained once he'd hung up. "She wasn't happy about staying in Glasgow."

Rose nodded worriedly, while Tony just looked delighted by the turn in events.

"Is she alright?" Rose asked in concern.

Alec opened his mouth to respond, but Tony got there first.

"Can Freya come see the fireworks with us tomorrow night?"

Alec and Rose both blinked, distracted by the sudden question. Every year, there was a fireworks show, up on the cliffs, and they'd already promised to take Tony, just as they had the previous year.

"Yeah," Alec nodded after a few moments, "of course she can."

Tony grinned then.

"You're picking her up from the train station, though?" Rose asked Alec suddenly, watching her partner worriedly.

Alec nodded, noting that Rose's arm had apparently unconsciously gone to her swollen belly. That's what made Rose different, Alec realised, from Bea and from Neil; Rose really, truly cared for Freya, even if she wasn't her daughter.

**~StormWolf10~**

The majority of the rest of the afternoon was spent with Tony insisting they played various board games with him, before Alec eventually got a text from Freya to assure him she was almost back at Broadchurch. He picked her up in the car, and Freya was back in their house by quarter to nine that evening. Tony, who had been allowed to stay up a bit longer to see Freya get home, greeted the girl with a big hug the moment she stepped into the room, which Freya gratefully returned. After another ten minutes of Tony questioning Freya about her Christmas- questions including "did it snow?" and "did you like your present from me?"- Rose finally managed to bundle the boy upstairs to bed, leaving Alec and Freya alone. It only took one look at his shattered, upset daughter for Alec to pull the seventeen year old into his arms. Freya gratefully accepted the hug, and they remained like that for some time.

"Cuppa?" Alec asked after a few moments of silence.

Freya nodded as she pulled away, smiling tiredly.

"That would be great, Dad," she admitted softly.

She followed him out to the kitchen then, watching as her Dad pulled three mugs out of the cupboard and began boiling the kettle.

"How was Scotland?" Alec asked as he dropped a tea bag into each of the mugs.

Freya wrinkled her nose.

"Same as usual," she replied with a shrug. "Cold. Bit wet."

Alec glanced at his daughter before turning to the fridge for the milk.

"And how's your Mum and Neil?" he asked, glancing again at Freya as he added a splash of milk to each mug. "And little Maisie?"

Freya sniffed, looked away for a few moments.

"Maisie's alright," Freya responded. "Growing up real fast."

"And your Mum and Neil?" Alec prompted again.

Freya wouldn't meet his gaze.

"Can we not talk about it, Dad?" she asked after a moment or two. "It doesn't matter. I'm back home, now."

Alec's jaw clenched then, but he gave his daughter a swift nod. He wasn't sure what had happened in Glasgow, but it was clear Freya didn't want to talk about it. The kettle finished boiling just as Rose came down from putting Tony to bed, and almost as soon as she'd entered the kitchen, Freya was there hugging her. A little worried about the upset teenager, Rose readily returned the hug, glancing at Alec as she did so. As Alec finished pouring the boiling water, Rose and Freya pulled away from each other, but not before Rose had pressed a kiss to the crown of the teenager's head.

"You alright, sweetheart?" Rose asked worriedly, keeping her gaze on Freya.

Freya nodded, smiling weakly and not even attempting to hide the tears welling in her eyes.

"Yeah," the girl nodded as she let out a shaky breath. "It just.. The whole time I was in Scotland, it seemed… Wrong. Like I shouldn't be there…" She paused then, smiling tiredly as Alec pressed a mug into her hands. "I missed you guys."

**~StormWolf10~**

Bundled up in his coat, scarf and hat, Tony Tyler ran along ahead of his sister, Alec and Freya on their way to the fireworks on top of the cliff. The whole area was alive with the sound of talking, and already he could see the outline of the food stalls that had been set up for the residents. It was New Year's Eve, at almost half seven at night, and although the fireworks wouldn't be set off until midnight, the whole area was flooded with people. Alec and Rose were some way behind the boy, and Freya was wandering along beside them, while Alec had his arm firmly around Rose's waist as he guided her along the gravel path.

"Did you hear from your Dad?" Rose asked Alec quietly as they made their way up to the cliffs. "I mean, since you phoned him to tell him about the baby."

Alec sniffed, and refused to meet her gaze.

"Alec?" Rose prompted, brow furrowing.

"I… Yeah, I've heard from him," Alec nodded after a few moments. "Just before Christmas, actually." He paused. "Wanted us to go up and see him."

"Go up and see him?" Rose echoed, brow furrowing further.

"Yeah, he… He invited us up to Glasgow, to spend Christmas with him," Alec explained, before continuing quickly. "But I turned him down."

"What?" Rose asked suddenly, stopping walking.

Freya blinked, looking round. She'd been oblivious to the conversation her Dad and his partner had been having, hadn't wanted to intrude, but now she was wondering if she should have listened in. At least then she knew what Rose was shocked about.

"Why did you do that?" Rose asked as Alec began tugging her gently up the pathway again, both of them oblivious to Freya watching them.

"I figured we'd want to spend Christmas at home," Alec sniffed. "In Broadchurch. Anyway, said we might go up next year."

"Alec," Rose sighed. "He's your Dad. You should've said, I'd have been more than happy to go up to Glasgow."

Alec blinked, and looked at her.

"Just… Promise me you'll phone him tomorrow, yeah?" Rose added quietly.

Alec sniffed, and nodded. And then, he was glancing up the path, eyes suddenly wide.

"Tony!"

Tony turned at the sound of his name being called, and turned to squint back through the darkness at Alec and Rose. It wasn't long before they caught the seven year old up, and Alec offered the boy his hand. Somewhat reluctantly, Tony took it, and the family walked the final minute or so in comfortable silence.

Almost as soon as they'd reached the top of the cliffs where the firework display would be held, they were caught by Paul Coates.

"Good to see you," Paul announced with a smile as he shook Alec's hand. "And I hear congratulations are in order."

Rose ducked her head then, and Alec sniffed awkwardly. Freya smirked at their reactions, while Tony giggled and clung to Alec's hand again.

"Yeah, well," Rose responded awkwardly with a grin. "Still got a few months to go till the baby gets here."

She leant into Alec's side then, the Scotsman smiling at her as she did so. Paul watched the exchange with a small smile.

"Well, I'd better get back," he said suddenly, gesturing behind his shoulder at one of the food stalls selling chips and other hot food. "I'm helping to run one of the stalls. Just wanted to come over and say thanks to Rose for helping with the Christmas food bank the past few weeks."

Rose shrugged, embarrassed again.

"Got me out the house," she responded, "and you needed volunteers. Might as well."

Alec, Rose and Paul exchanged a few more words before they parted, and Tony was dragging them off towards where he'd spotted Ellie and her boys. As she and Alec made their way over there, Rose looked around in interest, noting all the different people there. She figured almost the whole of Broadchurch must be there, as well as many people from the neighbouring towns and villages. She knew that Donna and Wilf would be coming, but she hadn't spotted them yet. Rose did, however, notice several other people she recognised; Becca Fisher seemed to be running the only stall with alcoholic beverages, Maggie Radcliffe was chatting to Beth Latimer who had her son Jack with her, Chloe Latimer and her boyfriend Dean were over by one of the sweet stalls, and Brian from SOCO was talking to some people Rose didn't recognise. It was only then that she realised Freya must have wandered off, and Rose spotted her some way away, obviously chatting to someone from work. And then, with no real realisation that she'd gotten there, Rose was stood in front of Ellie.

"There you are!" Ellie announced happily as she hugged Rose. "Was beginning to think you weren't coming!"

Tony and Tom were already chattering away, Fred stood beside them and offering his own babbled opinion on their conversation.

"Rose had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction," Alec responded as he slipped his arm back round Rose's waist.

Ellie blinked, and turned to Rose for an explanation.

"Now this baby's decided to make an appearance, I think I might need to go shopping for new clothes when Tony goes back to school," Rose explained with a small grin.

Ellie grinned back knowingly.

"Always a good excuse to go shopping!" Ellie grinned.

Rose rolled her eyes, but smiled back.

**~StormWolf10~**

Hours later, with midnight just an hour or so away, many of the children were starting to fuss. Fred was cuddled up to Ellie, his head on her shoulder, whilst Tony huddled in his coat. There weren't many of the children who weren't becoming drowsy or cold, but very few of them were happy to head home.

"They'll make it to midnight," Donna announced with a grin. "They always do."

Wilf and Donna had arrived not long after Alec and Rose, and the group had settled on a free bench on top of the cliffs. Tom and Tony were running around, laughing and joking, while Freya was a little way away talking to a black-haired boy around her age that she evidently knew quite well.

"Did Freya enjoy Scotland?" Wilf asked Alec suddenly.

Alec wrinkled his nose, shifting on the bench.

"She won't talk about it," the man responded. "We're not sure what happened, but she came back early and won't tell us what happened."

Conversation fell away from that topic then, after it became clear that something had happened Freya didn't want to discuss, and the topic soon turned to Rose and Alec's baby.

"Will you be moving house?" Wilf asked conversationally.

"Not yet," Rose admitted. "Possibly in a year or so."

"By then, though, Freya may not even be living with us," Alec added. "So we might not move at all. But if Freya wants to stay, we'll look into getting a bigger house."

**~StormWolf10~**

As the fireworks began getting set up, Tom and Tony came running back over, and Freya wandered closer, but remained with the boy she'd been speaking to. Soon the air was filled with the bangs of fireworks, Tony watching in fascination as he squeezed his way onto the bench between Rose and Donna. Alec slipped his arm around Rose's shoulders, holding her closer and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Happy new year," he murmured in her ear as his lips curved into a smile.

"Happy new year," Rose responded, glancing up at Alec with a grin.


	8. Chapter 8

"I… I was wondering, if, if you weren't busy-"

Freya blinked, and looked up. She'd gotten bored at work, had been surfing the net, and hadn't even realised someone was waiting in front of her until they began talking. Blinking again, she met Sam's gaze.

"Sam," Freya blinked, shocked. "You haven't got a session booked for today, have you?"

Sam shut his mouth, wide-eyed and flushing in embarrassment before shaking his head.

"As… As I was saying," Sam continued hurriedly, still looking rather nervous, "if you're not busy, an' you're not… You're not seeing anyone…" He paused then, swallowed. "You're _not_ seeing anyone, are you?"

Freya shook her head wordlessly, unsure how to respond. Sam managed a weak smile then.

"Well then," he started again after a moment. "I was thinking. About… About New Year's Eve, and what we talked about, at the fireworks show. About… Going out together. I was, well, I was wondering if you wanted to do that. Go out, I mean. You and me."

"Sam," Freya asked slowly, lips quirking into a smile. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Sam swallowed, and nodded quickly.

"If you want," he responded awkwardly.

Freya bit her lip, thinking for a moment or two, and she didn't miss the worried look growing on the boy's face.

"Next Friday alright?" she asked after a few moments.

Then, Sam grinned.

"Next Friday," he agreed happily, nodding his head. "Pick you up around seven?"

**~StormWolf10~**

Freya's trip home from work seemed to go faster than usual, the walk up the hill not so steep, the lights at the zebra crossing not so slow. It all seemed to be a blur. All she could think of was Sam asking her out. It had taken him long enough; she'd been hinting that they should go out at the fireworks party for New Year, but it was almost the end of January. It had taken him long enough.

As she unlocked the door and stepped inside her Dad's house, however, the atmosphere changed very suddenly. It was to be expected of course, and Freya berated herself for forgetting. Tomorrow was Saturday, the last Saturday in the month. It also happened to be the two year anniversary of Pete's death. Things had been tense in the house for the past week or so, with Tony realising just what date was coming up, and Alec doing the best to distract the boy and Rose from thinking about it much before the actual day.

Freya shrugged off her coat and hung it up before tentatively stepping into the sitting room.

"Hey," Freya greeted, voice soft as she entered the room.

Rose looked over from where she was sat on the sofa, Tony cuddled to her side. She managed a weak smile at Freya, but the teenager could see it didn't reach her eyes.

"Hey, Freya," Rose responded as the girl padded across the room. "How was work?"

"It was alright," Freya replied as she flopped into the armchair and toed off her trainers. Then she looked over at Tony's rumpled, sleeping form. Even from the angle she was sat at, Freya could tell the lad had been crying. "Was Tony alright today?"

Rose wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"Only got through half the day at school before they phoned me and I had to go pick him up. He wouldn't stop crying," Rose sighed, stroking her brother's hair.

Freya looked at the boy sympathetically, but before she could say anything, she became aware of sounds and movement in the kitchen.

"That Dad?" she asked Rose quietly, recalling seeing his car outside.

Rose nodded.

"Says we've got to have dinner early tonight, that we've gotta go somewhere later," Rose explained with a sigh. "God knows why. I'd rather just stay in."

"We need to get you and Tony out the house," Alec's gruff voice came from the kitchen doorway, and when Rose and Freya looked over, he was leaning against the frame. "I've got an idea that might help the pair of you."

There was an awkward silence, then, as Rose's brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to hazard a guess at Alec's plan.

"Come on then," Alec announced suddenly, snapping them from their thoughts. "I'm about to dish up dinner."

**~StormWolf10~**

Dinner was a quiet affair that was over surprisingly quickly. Soon, Alec was hurriedly washing up the plates before sending everyone upstairs, telling them to pack enough clothes for the weekend. Confused, Freya, Rose and Tony all complied, although Tony was constantly asking questions. When they eventually reconvened about ten minutes later, Alec was waiting for them, bag already packed.

"Got everything?" he asked them.

"Dunno," Freya shrugged, giving her Dad a pointed look. "Don't know what you're packing for."

Alec sniffed.

"As long as you've got enough clothes to last till Sunday and you've got toiletries, you're fine," he replied.

He leant forward then, taking Rose's bag from her and ushering them towards the door.

"Go get in the car," he told them when they finally all stepped outside. "We're going on a trip."

As Alec busied himself with checking the door was locked, he heard Freya usher a confused- and if he were right, slightly teary- Tony to the car. Freya deposited hers and Tony's bags in the boot before they both climbed into the car. Rose, however, remained at her partner's side, frowning uncertainly at him as their bags were abandoned at their feet.

"I dunno what you're doing, Alec, but I'm not sure this is a good idea," Rose informed him quietly.

Alec blinked, and turned his head to look down at her.

"It's bad enough for Tony that it's not just the two of us, that there's you and Freya too," Rose continued. "He loves you both, but he's been holdin' it in, he's… He's been scared to grieve in front of the pair of you. 'S why he got so upset at school today; he thought he couldn't get really upset at home with you and Freya."

Alec opened his mouth to respond, but Rose continued before he could butt in.

"We just need a quiet weekend, Alec. No attempts to try and cheer us up, no taking us on some weekend holiday to try and forget about it. Because we shouldn't be trying to forget about it, I shouldn't and neither should Tony."

"I know," Alec said quietly, reaching for Rose's hand and rubbing his thumb over the back of it. "I… I feel the same way, every year when it's the anniversary of my Mum's death. You and Tony don't need me or Freya trying to cheer you up or keep you occupied. You need to grieve." He paused then, dropped her hand, took a deep breath. "That's why we're going where we're going this weekend."

Then, Alec stooped to pick up their bags, frowning as Rose attempted to take her bag from him.

"Go get yourself settled in the car," he instructed, bending down to steal a kiss. "Your brother seemed a bit upset, and he's probably wondering where we are."

Rose nodded somewhat reluctantly, watching Alec lug their bags over to the boot as she made her way round to the passenger seat. Opening the door and sliding into the seat, Rose could hear her brother sniffling in the back seat as Freya murmured something, and she shifted awkwardly in her seat. The growing swell of Rose's belly somewhat hindered her ability to turn fully in the cramped car, but she could see that her brother had seated himself behind the drivers' seat, giving Rose a clear view of the boy.

"You alright, sweetheart?" Rose asked her brother gently, brow furrowing.

Tony sniffed and nodded, but his eyes were still bright with tears. Rose watched helplessly as Freya rubbed at the boy's back comfortingly.

Just then, the boot of the car slammed shut, and suddenly Alec was sliding into the car.

"Everyone got their seatbelt on?" he asked as he slipped his own on.

Freya called back an affirmative as Tony nodded, and Rose settled back in her seat, slipping her seatbelt on. That done, Alec was then pulling the car off the drive and they were on their way.

**~StormWolf10~**

It wasn't until just over two hours later that Rose caught on to where they were heading. She'd been staring out the window, one hand rubbing at the swell of her baby bump as the baby wriggled and squirmed. Tony had been a little disheartened when he'd discovered that he wouldn't be able to feel the baby when it first started moving, but Rose had assured him it wouldn't be long before he could. However, right now she wasn't sure anything would stop the little boy from crying. He'd dozed off an hour or so ago, cuddling his cuddly dragon toy to him as he cried himself to sleep. As Rose began to find herself in familiar surroundings, however, she turned to Alec, brow furrowed.

"You've brought us to London," she stated in confusion.

Alec nodded, and glanced over at her.

"That alright?" he asked.

Rose swallowed, and nodded.

"Yeah," she responded, voice quiet. "Yeah. Just… Wasn't what I was expecting."

"Thought it might help Tony," Alec explained, sounding a little uncertain. "I mean, to be in familiar surroundings and all. I know you didn't… Well, I know you had a cremation for Pete, so we can't exactly put flowers on his grave, but there must be something we could do."

Alec trailed off, unsure of what else to say. In the rear view mirror, he could see that Tony was still asleep, but Freya was watching the exchange uncertainly.

"Look," Alec sighed after a few tense moments, "I can turn the car around if you'd rather go home. It was… It was just a thought."

But then, Alec felt a hand on his arm, and he spared a glance over to see Rose smiling at him gratefully.

"No," Rose responded. "It was a lovely thought. Might even do us some good."

**~StormWolf10~**

They'd booked into a hotel on the outskirts of London, Alec refusing to drive into central London. While Freya had her own hotel room next to Rose's and Alec's, they'd had Tony in with them, and the boy had snuffled and sobbed for the majority of the night, until Alec had bundled the boy into bed with Rose and had taken the small single bed for himself.

The next morning, however, the Saturday, they got the tube in to Peckham, having to change at Clapham High Street to get there, and Alec had had to resort to carrying Tony so he didn't get lost in the crowds. The boy was being rather quiet, always either clinging to Alec or Rose, and was seemingly refusing to speak.

"Why don't we go show Alec the park, yeah?" Rose suggested when they exited the tube, her brother clinging to her hand. "Go show him where you used to play football."

Tony just sniffed in response, shrugging. Rose sighed, and she and Alec shared a look over Tony's head.

"Why're we even here?" Tony asked suddenly, his voice quiet as he stopped in the middle of the pavement.

People milled around them, and Freya stumbled slightly as Alec reached out to haul her back over to them.

"You know what day it is, don't you?" Rose asked her brother cautiously, certain he knew but unwilling to have to try and explain their trip to London. She knew she would have to tell him just what they were doing in London eventually, but part of her hoped Tony would work it out on his own.

"Dad died two years ago today," Tony stated quietly, looking up at Rose with damp eyes.

"Yeah," Rose agreed, nodding. "An' that's why we're here."

"But why?" Tony asked again, brow furrowing in increasing frustration. "There's nothing here that we couldn't do in Broadchurch." Tony paused, and sniffed again. "'S not like we buried him."

Rose bit her lip, looking away for a few moments as tears welled in her eyes. Both Freya and Alec noticed immediately, and Freya began looking around at the surrounding shops.

"Tony," Freya suggested suddenly, starting forward to take the boy by the hand, "why don't we go in that shop and get some sweets?"

The boy shrugged again, and somewhat reluctantly peeled himself from his sister's side to take Freya's hand. Both Rose and Alec watched as Freya and Tony made their way into the shop, leaving them as alone as possible in a busy London street.

"You alright?" Alec asked quietly, stepping closer to Rose and pulling her to stand in front of a shop window so they weren't in the middle of the pavement.

Rose nodded, but the tears running down her cheeks suggested otherwise. With a small sigh, Alec tugged her closer, pressing a kiss to her brow.

**~StormWolf10~**

When they eventually did get to the park, there were a fair few kids in there, despite it being the end of a rather cold January. Rose pulled Tony's hat further down over his ears as Freya began searching through the plastic bag of things she'd bought in the shop she'd taken Tony into. The teenager had refused to tell them what was in it, other than that it might help Tony. And then suddenly, Freya was pulling a pad of paper from the bag, along with a packet of pens.

"Maybe we should find a bench," the girl wondered aloud, wrinkling her nose as she looked around the park. "Might be easier to write sitting down."

"Write?" Rose echoed, frowning in confusion.

Freya grinned, and turned to her Dad, pressing the pens and paper into her Dad's hand. Alec looked at the paper, then his daughter, and then back again. And then, realisation dawned. Grinning, and nodding at her Dad, Freya took a step back.

"I've gotta go somewhere," she continued suddenly. "We need one more thing to finish this off. You get started writing those letters, and I'll meet you back here."

And then, Freya was heading out the park.

"What did she mean about writing letters?" Rose asked, rounding on Alec as he seemed to be the only one understanding what was happening.

Alec blinked, swallowed, and nodded towards a bench.

"Perhaps we should sit down," he suggested, one hand going to the small of Rose's back as he urged her over to it.

Rose complied, somewhat confused, and Tony wandered along beside them in silence. They seated themselves on the bench, and Alec handed pens to both Tylers, as well as pieces of paper. Then, he shifted Tony to sit on his lap.

"I think the idea of this," Alec began slowly, not sure how they'd react, "was that Freya thought you could each write a letter to your Dad."

Tony frowned in confusion, while Rose tensed beside him.

"About what?" Tony asked.

Alec shrugged.

"Anything you want," Alec told the boy calmly. "You can tell him about how you came top in your spelling test the other day at school, or winning your last football match, or-"

"Or the baby?" Tony interrupted, managing a small smile for the first time in several days.

He looked to Rose for reassurance then, as did Alec. Rose responded with a small smile and a nod.

"Yeah," she nodded gently. "Yeah, or the baby."

And then, Tony was reaching for the pen, pulling the lid off and beginning to write on the piece of paper. Rose watched her brother in silence as he started the letter with 'To Daddy'. She felt her chest tighten, could feel tears building behind her eyes, and she stared down at her own blank piece of paper.

"Aren't you gonna write a letter to Dad?" Tony asked suddenly, looking over at his sister in confusion.

Rose jerked her head up, shocked by the sudden question.

"Yeah, course I will," she responded quickly, slightly panicked even as she gave her brother a weak smile. "Just as soon as I know what to write about."

"Thought that would be obvious," Tony sniffed, returning his attention to his own letter. "You can tell him about Alec, and about Freya and the baby."

Alec felt Rose stiffen beside him for the second time in five minutes, and he quickly shifted the boy from his lap. Tony grumbled something under his breath, but continued writing regardless. As soon as Tony was off his lap, Alec moved to sit closer to Rose, his arm going round her shoulders.

"What's the matter?" he asked quietly, brow furrowing.

Rose let out a small, watery chuckle, shaking her head.

"'S silly," she responded softly. "I don't know what to write. I feel stupid."

Alec rested his cheek against Rose's head for a few moments, thinking to himself.

"Well," he spoke quietly after a while, "what would you want to tell him?"

Rose shrugged.

"Dunno," she responded, voice barely more than a whisper. "About you, obviously, and Freya. And… And the baby, I guess." Then, she snorted. "But it's not like we're telling him really, are we? He's dead. He's never gonna know about you, or Freya, or the baby. He's never gonna see Tony finish school, never gonna see our baby be born, or take their first steps, say their first word. He's gone, and he's not coming back."

**~StormWolf10~**

When Freya returned with two helium balloons she'd bought in a nearby card shop, Alec and Rose had their heads together, Rose shakily writing her letter. Alec raised his head as Freya approached, gaze flitting to the two balloons momentarily.

"I'll pay you back later," he told her quietly.

Freya, however, shrugged.

"You paid for the hotel," Freya pointed out. "Don't worry about paying me back."

Tony was chewing the end of his pen thoughtfully as he gazed over what he'd already written, and Freya crossed to his side, crouching beside the bench.

"You've written a lot," Freya noted to the boy, smiling reassuringly at him.

Tony wrinkled his nose, meeting Freya's eyes.

"I think I'm finished," he admitted quietly. "But I don't what to do with it."

"We," Freya told him, nodding towards the two balloons in her hand, "are going to tie your letter to one of these balloons so it will fly really high up in the sky to get to your Dad."

Tony watched Freya uncertainly for a few moments, a little sceptical, but he soon nodded. Freya smiled, and glanced over to where Rose was still writing her letter, leaning heavily against Alec's chest. The teenager watched as Alec said something quietly, so quiet Freya couldn't hear, and Rose nodded, handing the letter over. And then, they both looked expectantly over at Freya. Understanding, the girl handed over a balloon, watching for a few moments while Alec rolled the letter up and tied the string of the balloon round it as Rose stopped the balloon from floating away. But then, Freya shook herself, returning her attention to Tony and smiling.

"How about you hold the balloon for me, and we can tie your letter on, yeah?" Freya suggested, tone full of false cheer.

She could immediately tell that Tony hadn't fallen for her false cheer, but gave it little more thought as she thrust the balloon into the boy's hands.

"Keep a tight hold of it, ok?" she warned as she rolled the letter up.

Tony nodded, expression deadly serious, and watched as Freya tied the letter on to the balloon string. Then, she straightened.

"We letting them go here?" Freya asked her Dad uncertainly.

Alec, however, shook his head, getting to his feet. He held out his hand to Rose, helping her up.

"Rose has somewhere she wants to go."

**~StormWolf10~**

Tony clung to his sister's side as they entered familiar territory for him and Rose. It felt strange, being back. It seemed like such a long time ago, playing there with his friends. He'd been so little, and Tony was surprised about how much he'd forgotten about it, like the graffiti on the wall near the door, or the way the bins seemed to overflow with rubbish bags. He looked up at his sister then, as he felt her squeeze her hand.

"This is it, then," Rose said, coming to a halt in the middle of the courtyard.

She then turned to Alec and Freya expectantly. Both were looking around, trying- and somewhat failing- to hide their reactions to being in such a place.

"This is where you grew up, then?" Alec asked, brow furrowing as he took in the bleak grey concrete, and the graffiti, and the litter. "The Powell Estate."

Rose nodded, managing a weak smile.

"This was home," she nodded, eyes flitting around at the tall buildings.

The four of them stood in silence for several long moments, possibly even a minute or two, before Alec broke the silence.

"You want the balloons now?" he asked Rose quietly, gesturing at the two balloons he'd been left to carry.

Rose nodded wordlessly, holding out her hand. Alec passed her the pink balloon they'd tied her letter to, before moving to hand Tony his blue balloon. Tony dropped Rose's hand then, holding the balloon string in both hands as he stared at it, biting his lip. Then, he moved to lean into Alec, who was stood to his right. Understanding what the boy wanted, Alec quickly complied, hoisting the boy into his arms so that Tony could see Rose too. The boy smiled gratefully, before he looked up at Rose expectantly. She gave him a weak smile, and nodded.

"On the count of three, agreed?" she asked her brother quietly.

Tony nodded.

"Agreed," the seven year old replied seriously.

Rose took a deep breath, staring at the balloon, before her gaze dropped to her letter. She felt Alec reach for her hand, and she squeezed it, panicked.

"One."

Alec squeezed her hand back.

"Two."

He rubbed his thumb gently over the back of her hand, reassuring.

"Three."

And as she watched the balloons drift up into the sky, their letters tied securely to the string, Rose felt her baby shift inside of her. Her free hand went to her belly, and she drew in a deep breath, trying to ignore the stinging tears behind her eyes. She had her baby, and she had Alec and Freya and Tony. And that's what mattered now.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: In which Alec realises he's been a bit of an idiot, Rose worries, and Tony causes a bit of bother...**

"Absolutely not."

"But Alec," Rose sighed, wide-eyed as she implored him to understand, "this is what I want!"

Alec set his jaw and gazed at his partner, shaking his head.

"No. Rose, it's a stupid idea," Alec responded resolutely. "What would we do with Tony and Freya, eh? Your brother's not likely to stay in his room if he knows you're having the baby right across the hall!" He paused then, looking away for a few moments. "And quite frankly, I'd feel better knowing you were safe in hospital. That way, if anything goes wrong, with you or the baby, they can fix it."

"Didn't work that way for Mum," Rose responded quietly, looking away.

Alec let out a breath as realisation dawned on him.

"Is that why you don't want to go into hospital?" Alec asked quietly, dropping the forms onto the kitchen table as he looked at Rose, who was sat opposite him.

They were trying to fill out Rose's birthing plan, but with Rose and Alec failing to reach an agreement, they were still a long way from making a decision. And now, Alec was kicking himself for not realising why Rose was so adamant about a home birth.

"Rose," Alec began again after a few moments, moving to sit in the chair beside her. He spared a glance into the sitting room, where Freya and Tony were watching TV, before returning his attention to Rose. "Rose, I understand you're worried. But I promise you that nothing will happen to you or our baby."

"You don't know that," Rose replied quietly, meeting Alec's gaze with damp eyes. "You can't promise that, Alec. You don't know what will happen."

They continued staring at each other for several long moments, before Alec finally shook his head.

"No, I don't know what will happen," he admitted quietly, looking away before meeting Rose's gaze again. "And that's why I want you safe, in hospital. I know you want a home birth, Rose, but it's just not practical with Freya and Tony being here, and with the risk of complications…"

Alec trailed off, watching Rose's reactions carefully. Then, her shoulders slumped, even as her hand went to her six month along baby bump.

"I guess you're right," Rose sighed. "It's not realistic with Freya and Tony around. I mean, where would they go during the birth?"

Alec continued watching Rose carefully for a few moments, suddenly feeling guilty about encouraging her to have the baby in the nearby hospital, rather than at home. But then Rose was reaching for the forms, picking up the pen. He watched in silence as she continued filling in the form, stating that she wanted an active labour, no epidural unless absolutely necessary, that Alec and Ellie were to be her birthing partners and were allowed to be in the room at all times. It was the end of February, with their baby due in three months, due at the end of May, and they'd held off the birthing plan for as long as possible. It hadn't been deliberate, but they'd had Christmas, and then the anniversary of Pete's death, and then before they had known what was happening, Rose was six months pregnant. Despite going for several scans and check-ups over the past few months, Alec and Rose were still holding off finding out the gender of their child, too, which was beginning to cause problems with Freya and Tony; they both wanted to know whether, in a year or so, they'd have to share a room with a baby. But for now, Alec and Rose were concentrating on preparing for the birth.

As the uncomfortable silence drew on, Alec knew he had to say something.

"My father called again yesterday," he stated quietly, gaze on Rose at all times, "while I was at work. He wanted to know how you and the baby are."

Rose blinked, raising her head to look at Alec, the forms forgotten.

"Yeah?" she asked, part delighted, part surprised at the sudden phone call.

Alec nodded.

"Yeah," Alec replied. "He also wanted to know if you wouldn't mind him coming down after the baby's been born. He said he'd stay at a hotel, of course, and would only come down if you wouldn't mind."

"Why would I mind?" Rose asked in confusion, brow furrowing.

Alec shrugged.

"I think Dad just wondered if he'd be in the way," he responded calmly. "What with the fact there'll be a new baby in the house, plus your brother, and Freya…"

"Why don't you talk to your Dad, Alec?" Rose suddenly asked quietly, brow furrowing further.

Alec sniffed and looked away for a few moments.

"He… Before he retired… Before Mum died," Alec began slowly, "the only thing Dad ever used to do was work. He was a solicitor, and he'd stay at the office for hours sometimes, sorting out paperwork, filing, signing stuff… He said it put food on the table, and it did. He got a good wage. But… He was never at home." Alec paused then, staring at some invisible spot on the opposite wall. "When I was a kid, the only time I'd really ever get to spend with my Dad was when we went on holiday, and even that didn't happen very often. One year, we came down here, to Broadchurch. I must've only been about ten. And we got all the way down here and Mum found that Dad had brought paperwork with him. She went mad, and they both started arguing, and I just went off by myself. They didn't even notice. We were down on the beach, so I just walked off to sit under the cliffs. It wasn't until about forty minutes later that they realised I'd disappeared…" He trailed off, letting out a harsh laugh. "It's all they ever seemed to do, argue about Dad's job. Till the day Mum died… He tried to make it up, Dad; he was always there for Freya. Took her out on trips, had her on school inset days, bought her things… Everything he never did with me."

He felt Rose's hand on his arm, and it was only then that Alec realised there were tears rolling down his cheeks.

"He never liked Bea," Alec continued suddenly, sniffing. "Always said that he didn't trust her, that she was just using me… I didn't believe him, of course. We had Freya, we were happy. But then, of course, she went and had an affair. Dad was one of the only ones who knew that I'd taken the blame for her, and he wouldn't stop going on about how he'd been trying to tell me for years that my marriage would go wrong, that Bea was using me… It was like he couldn't resist rubbing it in that he'd been right… So I moved down here to Glasgow. And I didn't speak to him again till I phoned about the baby."

**~StormWolf10~**

"Rose, I don't feel well."

Rose sighed, turning to face her brother. Tony was sat at the kitchen table, wide-eyed and already dressed in his school uniform. It was Thursday morning, and they'd had the same problem since Monday; Tony kept insisting he was ill. He'd been sent home on Monday, with the school nurse suggesting he was coming down with some kind of bug, but the boy had seemed fine almost the moment he was home, with no loss of appetite, and no tiredness, so they'd sent him back to school on Tuesday. That didn't, however, stop Tony from trying to get another day off school.

"No chance," Alec responded before Rose could open her mouth. Already he was at Tony's side, checking the boy for a temperature. "Tony, you've been saying that you're ill every day this week. Until we can see proof that you're ill, you're going into school."

Tony pouted, and then glared at Alec. The Scotsman, however, didn't waver.

"You're going to school, Tony," Rose insisted, arms crossed as she arched an eyebrow at her brother.

Grumbling under his breath, Tony slid from his chair to go find his school shoes. As soon as he was gone, Rose sighed.

"I'll have to have a word with school," she murmured as Alec crossed to her side. "Tell them that he's trying to get time off school and that they shouldn't let him home unless he's really ill." She paused then, wide-eyed as she looked at Alec. "You don't reckon it's because of the baby, do you?"

Alec's brow furrowed as he thought.

"Possibly," he admitted carefully after a few moments. "He's probably starting to realise that we are actually having a baby now."

Rose sighed again, biting her lip as she ran one hand worriedly over the swell of her belly. They'd started buying things for the baby a few weeks before, getting a crib and a Moses basket, as well as baby grows and nappies. Perhaps seeing all the stuff being bought had finally made it hit home to Tony that Rose and Alec were having a baby, and that that baby would be a priority.

But then there was no more time to worry, as Tony appeared in the kitchen doorway, clad in coat and shoes, schoolbag in hand.

"I'll see you later," Rose told Alec quietly, kissing his cheek as she moved to grab Tony's lunchbox.

Alec nodded wordlessly, and moments later, Rose and Tony had left the house.

**~StormWolf10~**

Tony Tyler stood in his PE kit, biting his lip and trying not to cry. For some stupid reason the seven year old didn't understand, the school nurse wouldn't send him home. He'd tried everything; said he felt sick, but she'd just given him a little plastic cup full of water; said that he had a headache, but she just gave him a paracetamol; said he had a tummy ache, she'd sent him to the toilet. In all, Tony was fairly suspicious that Rose and Alec had caught onto his little act, and told the school not to send him home. Which, quite frankly, wasn't fair. All he wanted to do was spend some time with his big sister, like how it used to be when they'd first moved to Broadchurch. The afternoons and evenings after school were always so rushed, with homework to be done, and tea to be cooked, and by the time Rose and Alec had done the washing up, they got to watch TV together with all four of them for maybe an hour, before Tony was sent to bed. It wasn't fair. The baby would be coming soon, and when it did, Tony knew Alec and Rose would be even busier than they were now. They'd promised he could still go to football, and that they would still have time for him, but Tony wasn't so sure.

Everyone else in the class was running around by now, laughing and yelling as they played football. Usually, Tony would be right there in the thick of it, but he simply didn't feel like joining in. His thoughts too preoccupied, he couldn't help but wonder whether Rose and Alec had told the teachers to keep him at school because they didn't want him home. But that was a silly idea, wasn't it?

And then Tony heard a shout, and looked up, just as the football collided with his head.

**~StormWolf10~**

Sighing, Rose frowned at the state of the sitting room. She'd dropped Tony off at school, and spoken to the school nurse about how Tony was pretending to be ill so he could stay off school, and the woman had agreed to just give him some water and send him back to class if he came to her. She'd picked up some necessities, such as bread and milk on her way home, mentally reminding herself to tell Alec they'd need to go shopping at the weekend. Now though, Rose was back home, and she really needed to have a tidy up. Both Alec and Freya were at work, and with Tony at school until three, so that should give her plenty of time to have a tidy up. She'd just started, however, when the phone rang. Rose sighed, dropping a few of Tony's toys onto the sofa as she crossed to the phone.

"Hello?" she asked as she answered it.

She listened carefully, eyes growing wider and wider as seconds passed.

"I'll be there right away," she responded quickly. "Thanks for phoning."

And then, Rose was hanging up and hurrying for the door.

**~StormWolf10~**

When Rose rushed into A&E at the nearby hospital, she was both relieved and surprised to see Donna beside Tony's bed.

"What's going on?" Rose asked as she reached them, brow furrowed.

"Tony hit his head during PE," a nurse announced kindly from where she was sorting out an icepack for Tony. "His teacher called an ambulance after Tony said he had a headache, and that he seemed rather confused."

"I… Yeah, school phoned," Rose responded in confusion, noting belatedly that Tony's teacher was sitting in a chair in the waiting area, presumably to give them some space. Rose then turned her attention to Donna. "I mean how did you know what had happened?"

"Hospital phoned me," Donna replied, putting her hands up. "Something about Tony being brought in and that he asked them to phone me."

Rose frowned in confusion, looking from Tony to Donna and back again. The nurse was handing him an icepack at that point, before excusing herself. Rose still couldn't get her head around it. Her little brother, her hurt little brother, had rather the hospital call Donna than her? The school had phoned her anyway, of course, and they'd probably phoned Alec too, but that wasn't the point. The point was, Tony had been hurt, and he'd rather have Donna there than his own sister. Rose looked away for a moment or two, trying to compose herself. She couldn't let Tony see how upset she was getting, not with him having a head injury. She felt Donna's hand on her arm, but Rose jerked away, still refusing to look round.

"Rose," Donna sighed quietly, "I only came because they said Tony was getting upset and he wanted me. They've said he's got a concussion, apparently he hit the tarmac pretty hard. Him asking for me was probably just a fluke, probably the first name he thought of."

Rose snorted, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"So what?" Rose asked bitterly, rounding on Donna. "My little brother can remember your name quicker than mine? You think that'll make me feel better?"

Donna opened her mouth to respond, but another voice suddenly interrupted.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?"

Hands were suddenly on Rose's shoulders, and she instinctively leant into the touch as Alec moved to stand beside her. His expression was one of worry and concern, probably because of the phone call from the school, and finding Donna and Rose arguing in the middle of A&E. Tony sat on the bed, watching warily as he pressed an icepack to the lump on his forehead.

Jaw set, Rose refused to reply, even as Alec watched her in concern. Donna just watched sympathetically, unsure what to do. There were a few moments of tense silence before Donna finally spoke.

"Well, now that you're both here, I can get going," she told them, forcing a weak smile.

She moved to kiss Tony on the forehead, but pulled back quickly as she saw Rose tense out of the corner of her eye.

"I'll just get going then," Donna told them, false cheer in her voice. "Better get back to work. You'll call later, yeah? Let me know how Tony is?"

Rose didn't reply, but Alec nodded.

"Yeah, we'll phone later," he assured the redhead, offering her a small smile.

And with that, Donna was gone. Almost immediately, Alec rounded on Rose.

"What was that about?" he asked, hands dropping from her shoulders so he could fold his arms across his chest.

Rose looked away for a few moments, before glancing at Tony, who was watching worriedly. Then, she spoke.

"Tony asked them to call Donna rather than me."

Alec blinked.

"They can't do that, can they?" he asked in confusion. "They call the guardians."

Rose opened her mouth to speak, but surprisingly, it was Tony who got there first.

"School had already phoned Rose," the boy stated, eyes red-rimmed from crying. "And they'd phoned you. So I asked them to call Donna." He frowned then, looking down. "I thought it would be better."

"What do you mean, 'better'?" Rose asked her brother quietly, frowning in confusion.

Tony sighed, and pulled the icepack from his forehead.

"Freya said so," Tony stated plaintively, brown eyes wide as he urged the two adults in front of him to understand. "Said that… That it wouldn't be good for you to get stressed, because…Because of the baby. So… I asked them to call Donna instead."

Almost immediately, Rose's gaze softened, and she quickly moved to sit in front of Tony on the bed.

"You didn't have to do that, Tony," Rose told her brother gently, a small smile on her lips. "You had me worried even more! I'd rather know if you were hurt, or upset, or something, rather than find out hours later, ok?"

Tony nodded, forlorn. Alec had taken up the chair by the bed, pulling it closer as Tony settled himself back against the pillows.

"That's some lump there," Alec observed, eyes lingering on the darkening lump and surrounding bruise on the right side of Tony's brow.

The boy nodded, tears welling in his eyes again.

"It hurts," he stated in a small voice. "An' I'm tired."

"You can't sleep yet, Tony," Rose told her brother quickly, one hand moving to brush his hair back from his forehead as she spoke. "Not for a while, not until we know you're ok."

Tony sighed, and fidgeted on the bed. It wasn't long, however, before a doctor came by to see them, and after strict instructions for Tony to take a few weeks off school to rest, and for Alec and Rose to wake him at least once each night to check on him, the boy was discharged. It was, however, Rose decided, going to be a long three weeks…


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sporadic updates have been sporadic. I'm apparently still ill, god knows what's happening to me… Anyway, this chapter sees Tony beg for something, and Rose and Alec have another discussion.**

"You'd better not be jumping on the sofa," Rose called through to her brother sternly as she heard the tell-tale signs of the sofa springs squeaking. Even from the kitchen she could tell her brother was causing havoc.

There was one final squeak, and then Tony's voice calling back "No!"

Rose rolled her eyes, smiling. It was early March, about ten days after Tony had gotten hurt at school, and the boy's concussion was lessening, although he still had a headache. They'd been told that his headaches could continue for a few more months, and the boy still seemed to get a little confused sometimes, but seemed to be on the mend. Picking up her mug of tea, and the glass of juice for Tony, Rose made her way through to the sitting room then, raising her eyebrow as Tony attempted to look innocent.

"Drink this slowly please," Rose told him with a sigh as she handed the boy the glass of juice and sat on the sofa beside him.

There was silence for a few moments, only broken by the sound of Tony guzzling his drink. Finally, Tony shifted to settle the glass on the floor, and turned to look at Rose.

"Tom said Ellie's getting him and Fred a puppy," Tony stated matter-of-factly, wide eyed.

"Yeah?" Rose asked, trying to hide her smirk. "That's nice for them."

"Yeah," Tony nodded, before looking at Rose wistfully.

Rose returned her attention to the TV, which seemed to be switched on to some kids' channel that Tony was meant to be watching.

"Rose?" Tony began again after a few moments, tugging at the sleeve of Rose's top and biting his lip. "Can we get a pet?"

"We'll have to ask Alec," Rose replied, taking a sip of her tea, "you know he's not keen on pets."

"But Tom and Fred-" Tony protested.

"Tom and Fred live with Ellie, not me and Alec," Rose responded calmly, not looking at her brother.

"But that's not fair!" Tony pouted, brow furrowing. "Tom and Fred get a puppy and I get a baby!"

"I thought you were excited about being an Uncle?" Rose asked, brow furrowing slightly as she tried not to take Tony's sulking as an insult.

"I am," Tony responded, arms folded across his chest sulkily, "but it's not a puppy."

Tony paused, and thought for a few moments.

"Rose, can I teach the baby to play fetch?"

Rose blinked, and stared at her brother.

"I… I'd rather you didn't," she admitted slowly after a few moments.

Tony's shoulders slumped then.

"Oh," he sighed. "Ok."

**~StormWolf10~**

By the time Alec got home that evening, Rose had heard enough about Tom and Fred getting a puppy.

"If I hear one more word about Ellie getting the boys a puppy, I'm going to scream," she warned Alec quietly as they dished up dinner that evening.

"Yeah, Carter mentioned she was getting the boys a puppy," Alec responded, brow furrowing. "God knows why; Tom will lose interest in it in a few weeks, and Fred's too small to walk the dog. It'll be down to her."

Rose hummed in agreement, moving to get the cutlery out.

"I'll warn you though," Rose continued as she set the table while Alec brought the plates over, "Tony's been sulking about it."

Alec sighed, even as Tony came bounding into the room, followed by a tired-looking Freya.

"Did Rose tell you about Ellie getting Tom and Fred a puppy?" Tony asked excitedly as he slid into his usual chair.

Alec glanced at Rose, trying to hide a smirk at Rose's annoyed looked.

"Your sister mentioned it, yeah," Alec responded after a few moments.

He headed back over to the kitchen counter to collect two mugs of tea, while Rose took her tea and Tony's juice over to the table. Once everyone was seated at the table, Tony went to speak again.

"Alec," he began sweetly, hands in his lap, "can we have a pet?"

Freya snorted then, giggling.

"Dad _hates_ pets!" she informed the boy with a grin.

"Not all pets," Alec sniffed defensively.

"Yeah?" Freya challenged. "Name a pet you'd let Tony have in the house."

"Well," Alec shrugged. "I'm not opposed to a goldfish or two."

Tony wrinkled his nose then.

"But goldfish are _boring_!" the boy moaned. "I want something I can play with! Rose said I can't even play with the baby!"

"I didn't say you couldn't play with the baby, Tony," Rose sighed, lifting her gaze from her dinner momentarily. "I said you couldn't teach the baby to play fetch."

Freya snorted again, and Tony looked confused, while Alec was watching the whole thing bemusedly.

"You can't teach the baby to play fetch, Tony," Alec spoke up eventually, returning his attention to his rapidly-cooling dinner. "Fetch is for dogs, and your niece or nephew isn't a dog."

"Get me a dog to play fetch with, then," Tony responded calmly, spearing a potato onto his fork and attempting to shove the whole thing into his mouth at once.

"It's not-" Alec began, shaking his head. "Dogs cost a lot of money, Tony…"

He trailed off then, though, as Tony slumped in his seat, bottom lip sticking out in a pout. Alec sighed.

"I'll think about it," Alec announced reluctantly.

**~StormWolf10~**

"Were you serious about getting a dog?" Rose asked, frowning at Alec.

It was getting on, late in the night, and Tony had been put to bed a few hours ago. Even Freya had retreated to bed, complaining that she thought she was coming down with a migraine. That left just Alec and Rose downstairs, and they'd been discussing the baby again, before the conversation had taken a rather sudden change.

"Well," Alec sniffed, shrugging, "might cheer Tony up, and Freya's always been fond of dogs. Might make them more willing to share a room, whichever one of them ends up having to share with the baby."

Rose hummed in agreement, but her brow still furrowed in confusion.

"D'you think we need to see about finding out what we're having?" Rose asked suddenly, voice quiet.

Alec frowned in confusion.

"I mean, I know we were going to wait till the birth," Rose continued quickly, "but I think we should find out, if we're having a girl or a boy. I've got another scan coming up, and an appointment with the midwife. An'… An' I just think it might help. 'Cause, that way, Freya and Tony will know which one will be sharing a room, give them time to adjust to the idea." Rose paused then, biting her lip. "Tony… Tony, I think, might be excited about sharing a room. Well, maybe not excited, but by the time the baby's here, and it's ready to move out of our room, he'd have settled to the idea. But Freya…" Rose sighed then, picking at her thumb nail until Alec covered her hand with his. "I don't want Freya to think we're trying to push her out, that _I'm_ trying to push her out. 'Cause I'm not, I'm not trying to make her move out, I don't want her to… But…"

"You're worried she'll see it that way," Alec concluded quietly.

Rose nodded, and Alec groaned, pulling away to rub at his eyes.

"Rose," he began slowly with a sigh, "Freya's a smart girl, she knows you don't want to push her out."

"But if the baby's a girl-" Rose began to protest, brow furrowed.

"If the baby's a girl, then Freya will be more than happy to have another little sister," Alec cut in calmly. "And she knows it's not something we could control, whether she had a brother or a sister."

Rose sighed, nodding but still looking uncertain.

"But," Alec continued after a few moments of carefully watching Rose, "if you really think it'll be better to find out the sex of the baby, then we'll have a chat with the midwife, yeah?"

Rose smiled gratefully then, nodding. And, for the first time all day, she properly relaxed.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: In which Tony has questions, and Alec whines about choosing names...**

By the time they'd reached late April, Rose only had a month of pregnancy left. The Easter holidays had been a special kind of hell for her, with both Alec and Freya unable to get more than the Easter weekend off, Alec managing to get Good Friday off while he permitted Ellie to take Easter Monday off to be with the boys. Tony had ran his older sister ragged, despite near-constant reminding from Rose, Alec and Freya (and even Ellie and Donna) that, with the baby due so soon, he needed to realise that trips to the park, and Rose playing in the garden with him, might become a little more sporadic. The seven year old clearly hadn't quite understood, though, and Rose had been relieved when the second week of the holidays saw mostly rain. It gave her an excuse to keep her brother inside, watching various Disney films and doing colouring.

But then the school holidays ended, and while Alec took Tony to school in the morning, Rose picked him up in the afternoon, relieved that the rain had let up when the school holidays had ended. Of course, Tony hadn't been very impressed, but he'd soon forgotten about that when he'd first caught sight of the Carters' new border collie pup. Alec was still umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether they themselves would be getting a pet, but it seemed Tony hadn't given up on the idea. Still, the walk home from school just two days after Tony had returned to school was filled with steady, excited chatter from Tony about what he'd done at school that day, and the stream of chatter from the boy continued long after Rose had unlocked the door and let him into the house. In fact, the boy had only stopped talking when he saw Rose's hand go to her swollen belly.

"Is he moving again?" Tony asked eagerly, already scrambling across the sofa to his sister.

Rose nodded, giving her brother a small smile as she tugged him closer to feel the baby move. They'd done as Rose had suggested, and she and Alec had found out that they were having a baby boy. Tony had been ecstatic, even if it meant that in a year or so he'd be sharing a room, and both Rose and Alec had been sure to remind him that it would be a long time before his nephew was old enough and big enough to play with him.

"When's he gonna come out?" Tony asked, gaze moving from his small hand resting on Rose's belly, to her face.

"Few more weeks yet, monkey," Rose informed her brother, smoothing his blonde hair back from his forehead. "And when he does, you'll have to be really careful when you hold him, yeah?"

Tony nodded, gaze falling back to his small hand, where his fingers were splayed over the large swell of Rose's belly.

"What's his name?"

"Alec and I haven't decided on that, yet," Rose admitted to her brother with a small smile, watching the boy rise up on his knees to press both hands to her belly as the baby shifted and kicked against her skin. "We've got a few ideas, but we haven't come to an agreement. It's a big decision."

Tony nodded solemnly.

"Is he gonna be big or small?" Tony continued, brow furrowing. "Freya said he could be either, but you've gotten really, really big, so does that mean the baby will be big?"

Rose smirked then, chuckling.

"Maybe," she told her brother with a grin. "But maybe not. When we went to the hospital for the scans, they said he was average size, which is good. But we've still got four weeks till he's ready to come out, so he might get bigger. But I bet he's still gonna look tiny compared to you!"

Tony giggled then, settling next to his sister for a hug.

"Freya said that when the baby's born he'll look all red and funny," Tony stated, voice slightly muffled by the fabric of Rose's top.

Rose chuckled, pressing a kiss to her brother's forehead. If these questions kept up until the baby came, she decided, it would be a long four weeks…

**~StormWolf10~**

"Hello, Alec," Wilf greeted with a smile as he saw the DI on his doorstep. "How's Rose?"

"Tired," Alec admitted with a slight smile. "Thanks for having Tony for the night."

"No problem," Wilf waved off, grinning as Tony beamed at him and began pushing his way into the house.

"Wilf, can we use your telescope tonight?" Tony asked, tugging his rucksack from Alec's grasp as he stared up at the man.

Wilf chuckled, and nodded.

"Of course we can, Tony!" he told the boy, ruffling his hair. "Donna's baked some cookies, too. She's in the kitchen."

Tony nodded, and quickly turned to Alec to hug him goodbye.

"Bye Alec, see you tomorrow!"

And then, the boy was scampering into the house, leaving the bemused Scotsman on the doorstep. He blinked, then turned his attention back to Wilf, frowning.

"Donna bakes?" he asked, confused.

Wilf chuckled again, and shrugged.

"She's… She's improving," the older man admitted after a moment or two. "At least this batch isn't burnt to a crisp."

Alec smirked slightly then.

"Tony will eat anything," the DI dismissed dryly.

There was silence then, for another few moments.

"Got the house to yourselves tonight, eh?" Wilf asked suddenly.

Alec nodded.

"Freya's gone out… With this boyfriend of hers." Alec frowned, uncertain. "She's been out with him a few times now, I think. Met him at the gym. Sam Flint." Alec sighed then, rubbing his hands over his eyes. "She's growing up so fast, she's eighteen in a few days…"

"Oh, I remember when Donna was the same," Wilf agreed. "Wanting to be all independent. Her parents never could stop her going out with boys."

Alec hummed in agreement, still looking concerned.

"I just hope nothing happens to her," Alec murmured quietly. Then, he shook himself, giving Wilf a nod. "I'd better get back to Rose, else she'll fall asleep on the sofa."

Wilf nodded, and moments later, he was waving Alec goodbye as the man walked back towards his car.

**~StormWolf10~**

"I hate choosing names," Alec sighed, leaning forward in his seat and rubbing his eyes behind his glasses.

He seemed to be doing a lot of that recently, but he couldn't seem to help himself. He was stressed, trying to get Elaine to agree to him having six weeks off work once the baby came, telling her that Ellie could cope without him. He was tired too, and Rose wasn't sleeping well either, always tossing and turning and making it even harder for him to sleep.

"Oh, don't whine," Rose scolded, brow furrowed as she looked over one of their numerous baby names books. "Besides, we need to narrow down our choices. Tony was asking the other day; about what we were gonna call the baby. He needs a name, Alec, and it would help if you stop moaning about how much you hate picking names!"

"But I do!" Alec protested. "I hate it! I don't even like my own bloody name, how am I supposed to settle on a name for our son?"

"Well, how did Freya get her name?" Rose asked, glancing up from the book to look over at where Alec was leant forward in the armchair.

Alec sniffed.

"Bea chose it, I agreed," he shrugged. "It suited her."

"So you waited until after Freya was born?" Rose concluded.

"I guess," Alec shrugged again. Then, he sighed, and threw the book he was holding onto the floor. "Look, Rose, why don't you just pick a name? I'm sure I'll like whatever you name him."

It was Rose's turn to sigh then.

"Oh, for god's sake, Alec," Rose complained. "Donna's been more help than you! And what about choosing the name together, eh? This is our son, it has to be a joint decision!"

Alec merely blinked.

"How about something Scottish," Rose suggested after a few moments of silence.

"Scottish?" Alec echoed, wrinkling his nose. "Why would we want to do that?"

"Well, the baby's half Scottish," Rose reasoned. "And Freya's a Scottish name, isn't it?"

"It's North Germanic," Alec corrected. "But it's strongly linked with Scotland."

Rose just shrugged.

"Point still stands," she continued. "It's linked with Scotland. So are there any Scottish names you like?"

"Does it have to be Scottish?" Alec asked, eyes narrowing. "I mean, the baby's half English too."

Rose thought for a few moments, before responding.

"How about one of both?" she suggested after a few moments. "A first and a middle name."

"The middle name can be Scottish," Alec stated quickly. "That way he doesn't have to use it." He paused then, thinking for a moment. "And we're not using Alec as a middle name."

Rose rolled her eyes, but nodded. Then, she reached for another baby names book.

"Let's get the Scottish name sorted first then, yeah?" Rose suggested, flicking the book open.

Alec blinked at the book cover.

"Rose," he began slowly, "why do you have a book of Scottish baby names?"

"Donna bought it for us," Rose responded calmly, eyes scanning the page. "How about Allister?"

She watched Alec's disgusted expression over the edge of the book, biting her lip to stop a giggle escaping her.

"Is that a no?" she asked.

"Definitely," Alec nodded. "What else do you suggest?"

Rose flicked through another few pages, stopping randomly.

"Blair?"

Alec shook his head.

"Braden?"

Again, Alec wrinkled his nose. Rose sighed, and pushed herself into a more upright position, thrusting the book at him.

"You look through it, then," she told him, shifting uncomfortably on the sofa, one hand going to cradle her belly. "If you're gonna moan about everything I pick."

"I just don't see why you want a Scottish name for the baby," Alec responded, although he dutifully took the book.

"'Cause," Rose responded. "It's part of his heritage."

Alec grumbled a little more, and then began flicking through the book.

**~StormWolf10~**

Over an hour later, only a handful of names had been suggested by Alec, and they'd worked their way through the book Donna had given them. They'd vetoed Coby, Cory, Duncan, Donald (Rose had suggested that, but Alec had refused, on the grounds that it would be unfair to name their son after Alec's Dad but not Rose's), Frazer, Irving, Malcolm, Scot, and Thane. They had, however, decided that Campbell, Finlay and Lachlan were all possibilities.

Rose yawned, stretching herself out on the sofa. She was unaware that Alec was watching her until he spoke.

"Do you want to look for some first names, or shall we leave it for now?" Alec asked quietly.

"'S only ten," Rose protested through another yawn. "Might as well get it over with. Or at least narrow our options down."

After some debate, they relocated to bed, the baby books scattered across the duvet. Ellie had dug out a few baby names books she still owned from when she'd been pregnant with Fred, and had dropped them round a few weeks before, which had saved Rose and Alec from buying some. The Moses basket was already set up in their room, opposite the bed, and as Rose glanced over at it, she couldn't help but smile. Quite frankly, the bedroom was a bit of a mess, all the stuff for the baby scattered through the room due to lack of storage space, but Rose couldn't bring herself to care.

"Got any names in mind?" Alec asked as he settled into the bed beside Rose and reached for one of the books.

Rose shrugged.

"Got a few names I like, but none that I'm completely set on," Rose responded, voice quiet.

"Like what?" Alec prompted.

"I like the name Oliver," Rose admitted, a little shyly. "And Oscar. Jake. Flynn. Theo…" She trailed off then, shaking her head. "But you probably don't like them. Besides, we've not even begun looking through the books."

"Well," Alec began slowly. "We could look through the books, get a few more ideas. But I like some of your suggestions, too."

"Yeah?" Rose asked with a small smile. "Mr I-hate-choosing-names actually likes some of my suggestions, eh?"

Alec sniffed.

"Yeah, well," he responded. "I quite like Oscar. And Jake. Theo's nice…"

"Shall we add them to the 'maybe' list?" Rose suggested with a grin, reaching for the notebook they'd used to write down their suggested middle names.

"Yeah," Alec agreed. "But we've still got a few weeks left to decide, haven't we? I mean, he won't be born until three and a half weeks' time."

Rose hummed, before yawning, and Alec rolled his eyes.

"Come on," he told her, moving to clear the books off the bed. "Get some sleep. We'll have Freya and Tony back tomorrow, and the baby here in a few weeks… Best get some sleep while we still can."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: In which Donna and Rose talk, Freya has boyfriend troubles, and a long-awaited face makes an appearance...**

"I swear she's gotten worse since she turned eighteen," Rose grumbled to Donna.

"Yeah, well, Freya's a young adult now," Donna reasoned, settling herself in the armchair. "Holding down a job, has a boyfriend… Probably thinks she's all mature and responsible." Donna's eyes dropped to Rose's heavily swollen belly then, smirking. "Only eighteen years and you'll have the same problem with that little boy."

"Oh, don't," Rose sighed, pressing a hand to her belly. "He's not even out yet. I don't really want to be thinking about all the hormones and stuff. It's bad enough that Tony will be at that stage in ten years."

"Got a name for him yet?" Donna asked, nodding towards Rose's belly. "Aren't you due any day?"

Rose nodded.

"Tomorrow," Rose admitted. "The 29th. Think I'm ready for him to be out now. He's still nameless, though. We've got a list of possible names, but we won't choose for definite until he's been born."

"You finally got Alec to open the baby name books, then?" Donna smirked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Rose giggled, "after weeks!"

She paused then, glancing at the clock. Donna had popped in on a rare day off from work, coming to Rose for lunch. It was gone one now, and Rose knew that that meant Alec would be back at the station, after a run to a nearby café for lunch. And that probably meant that Elaine would be checking on him again.

"I reckon Alec's probably grumbling at Elaine again," Rose sighed after a few moments.

"She still getting a little shirty about Alec wanting the time off?" Donna asked, knowing the DI had had problems securing his paternity leave.

Rose nodded, before shrugging slightly.

"Well, not the paternity leave exactly," Rose corrected herself. "He's managed to convince Elaine that Ellie and SOCO can hold down the fort with the Sergeants and PCs. It's more to do with Alec and Ellie being my birthing partners." Rose paused then, brow furrowing. "I went with Ellie 'cause she knows what to do, and I figured she could get the time off from work, but…"

"But Ellie is still your birthing partner, right?" Donna asked in concern. "I'd offer, but…"

"But you'd either faint or vomit at the sight of any blood, I know," Rose interrupted dryly, managing a small smile.

"Not my fault the sight of blood makes me queasy," Donna muttered under her breath.

Rose just grinned.

"Another drink?" she asked, ignoring Donna's muttering.

**~StormWolf10~**

It was mid-afternoon when Freya swept into the house more than an hour before usual. She slammed the door behind her, surprising both Rose and Tony, and she stormed into the sitting room and up the stairs with a face like thunder. Tony opened his mouth to call after the eighteen year old, but Rose quickly silenced him.

"You stay here," Rose told her brother sternly, awkwardly pushing herself to her feet with the aid of the sofa. "I'll go speak to Freya."

Tony pouted, but nodded as Rose gave him another warning look and he fell silent. Rose headed towards the stairs then, listening carefully for Freya moving about upstairs as she ascended the flight. The girl had slammed her bedroom door shut, and when Rose reached it, she knocked loudly.

"Freya?" she called through the door. "Freya, are you alright, sweetheart?"

Freya didn't reply, but Rose heard something that sounded distinctly like a sob, and reached for the handle.

"I'm gonna come in, Freya," Rose warned the girl gently. "Just to check you're alright."

She opened the door then, slowly, and poked her head round it. She was met with varying shades of dark purple walls and soft furnishings, and black patterned wallpaper on the wall Freya's bed was against. The teenager in question was sprawled face-down on the bed, shoulders shaking with silent sobs. Rose sighed, and padded across the purple carpet to the double bed.

"Oh, Freya," Rose sighed again, seating herself on the edge of the bed to rub the girl's back. "What happened?"

"Sam's an arse, that's what happened!" Freya yelled into her pillow angrily.

Rose bit her lip. Boy trouble.

"What happened?" Rose repeated gently, encouraging Freya to roll onto her side.

Reluctantly, Freya rolled onto her side, brow furrowed and eyes red from crying.

"He's been seeing someone else," Freya admitted thickly, sniffing as she picked at the black throw on her bed. "It's been going on for a few weeks."

"How do you know?" Rose asked quietly, brow furrowing.

"I caught them," Freya responded bitterly. "Snogging in the break room."

Rose's eyes widened then.

"It's someone from work?" Rose asked, astounded.

Freya nodded.

"New girl," Freya told her. "Only works part-time. I swear she's like, twelve, or something."

Rose arched an eyebrow, and Freya rolled her eyes.

"Fine," the girl conceded with a sigh. "She's sixteen. Point is, Sam's two years older than her, and he was already seeing me." Then, she snorted. "But apparently he couldn't be bothered to wait for me."

"Wait for-" Rose trailed off, eyes widening for the second time in as many minutes as realisation hit.

"That night I went out with him," Freya revealed quietly. "When Tony went to Wilf and Donna's. I stayed at Sam's, yeah?" Rose nodded, and Freya took that as a sign to continue. "Well, he'd evidently decided that me staying the night meant I was willing to shag him. I said no. He evidently went elsewhere."

They descended into a sort of awkward silence then, Rose struggling to find the right response to what her (for all intents and purposes) step-daughter had just told her.

"Well," Rose began after a few moments, "maybe it's for the best, yeah? Because if he was trying to pressure you into that, even knowing you weren't ready… Maybe it was for the best."

Freya grunted in reply, tugging at the blanket now tangled and twisted beneath her.

"Are you gonna tell Dad?" she asked quietly after a few moments, eyes flitting to Rose's uncertainly.

"Are _you_ going to tell your Dad?" Rose countered, eyebrow arched.

Freya's brow furrowed, and she shrugged.

"I guess I should tell him," the girl reasoned after a few moments. "And he'd find out eventually. But… He'll go mad when he finds out."

"Of course he will," Rose agreed quietly, a small grin on her lips. "He's your Dad. He loves you."

**~StormWolf10~**

It took a little more coaxing, and some chatter, but Rose successfully managed to coax Freya from her room and back downstairs. Tony was still sat on the sofa, frowning indignantly at having been left so long.

"There's a man outside," Tony stated, clambering off the sofa to stand in front of Rose, arms folded across his chest and sock-clad feet apart. "I phoned Alec and told him."

Rose frowned then, glancing at Freya, who looked just as baffled.

"You two stay here," Rose told them, already moving towards the door. "I'll see who it is."

She heard Tony protest at being told to stay put yet again, but Rose ignored his whining, and reached the small entrance. She wished that there was a door she could shut, to block the sitting room from view, but with only an archway, there was nothing Rose could do to shield Freya and Tony from the man. Taking a deep breath, Rose cautiously opened the front door. The man had his back to her, and all she could see was grey hair, the back of the man's long black coat, and a pair of black trousers underneath. He looked rather calm, Rose noted worriedly, standing with his hands in his pockets.

"Hi," she stated, a little bewildered. "Can I help you?"

"Ah, good," the man stated, turning around, "you've answered the door. I could see that little blonde lad staring at me through the window, so I figured there had to be at least one adult in the house. He's Tony, right?"

"Sorry?" Rose asked, taken aback and admittedly more than a little worried about the fact the man knew Tony's name.

"The little boy," the man repeated, suddenly looking as if he'd gotten something wrong. "His name's Tony, yes?"

Rose swallowed, and her gaze darted up the still-empty road. No sign of Alec.

"Who are you?" Rose asked eventually, returning her attention to the man in front of her, brow furrowing further.

The man blinked, and then his eyes widened incrementally.

"I've not introduced myself, have I?" the man stated, seemingly shocked. Then, he thrust his hand at Rose. "I'm Donald Hardy. Alec's Father."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: In which Donald makes himself comfortable, and Tony's sceptical...**

"We, uh, we weren't expecting you," Rose admitted as she stepped back to let Donald Hardy into the house.

"Ah," Donald nodded slowly. "Possibly should have phoned first, to tell you I was coming." He paused, frowned, before smiling at Rose. "I take it you're Rose?"

"Yeah," Rose nodded. "It's good to meet you at last."

"Likewise," the man smiled. "Is Alec here?"

"Still at work," Rose responded apologetically. "Though Tony phoned him when he saw you hanging around outside, so he's probably on his way home."

Rose nodded, only just cottoning on to the man's Glaswegian accent. She supposed she'd grown so accustomed to both Alec and Freya and their accent that it hadn't even registered the first time Donald had spoken. Then, Donald was speaking again, and Rose forced herself to concentrate.

"The wee bairn's due tomorrow, yes?" he asked, nodding towards Rose's large baby bump. "Hope you don't mind me coming down early, but I thought you might want someone to look after your brother and Freya. If you haven't gotten anyone doing that already."

Rose shook her head.

"Freya promised to look after Tony for us, but it would be good to have someone else around," Rose admitted.

Donald smiled gratefully at that.

"Why don't we go on through?" Rose asked suddenly, nodding towards the sitting room. "To prove to Tony you're not a weirdo hanging about outside the house. I'm sure Freya would like to see you too."

Donald nodded, and gestured for Rose to lead the way. She stepped forward into the sitting room, aware of Donald following her, and frowned at the empty room. But then, she heard talking in the kitchen, and quickly crossed to the doorway.

"Has the weird man gone?" Tony asked from where he was perched on the kitchen worktop, glass of orange juice in his hands.

"It's not a weird man," Rose responded calmly. "And you know you're not meant to sit on the sides."

Tony sighed, setting his glass on the worktop before hopping off.

"Who is it, then?" Freya asked, frowning.

"It's your Granddad," Rose admitted with a smile. "He's come down a few days early. Take Tony through, I'll make us some tea."

Freya nodded, quickly moving to take Tony's hand and lead him from the room. Tony grabbed at his orange juice before he left. However, he stopped walking a little way into the sitting room, watching the stranger in the room uncertainly. Freya, on the other hand, grinned and quickly rushed to give her Granddad a hug.

**~StormWolf10~**

Everyone had settled on the sofas and were chatting, with the exception of Tony who was still watching Donald suspiciously, when Alec burst into the house.

"Tony called! Something about a strange man hanging about-" Alec trailed off, breathing heavily and brow furrowed as he stared at his Dad, happily seated in the armchair. "Dad."

"Son," Donald responded, nodding towards his son. "I hope you don't mind me coming down from Glasgow a wee bit earlier than planned."

Alec blinked. Then, apparently still in shock, he nodded.

"Yeah, no, that's fine," he replied, brow still furrowed. "Where are you staying?"

"A hotel, down in the town. The Traders," Donald replied. "Dropped my stuff off there before I came here." He paused then, grimaced. "I'm afraid I gave the wee lad a bit of a shock."

Donald nodded over at Tony then, who was cuddled up beside Rose and glaring at the man. Alec looked over, before crossing the room and sitting on the arm of the sofa, ruffling Tony's hair. Tony blinked, looking up at Alec with wide eyes.

"I thought he was gonna hurt us," Tony whispered loudly, brown eyes wide and imploring Alec to understand. "An' you always said to only call you at work if it's an emergency, an' I thought it was an emergency."

"I know," Alec nodded, ruffling the boy's hair again. "And you did the right thing."

Tony settled back on the sofa then, snuggled between Rose and the arm of the sofa Alec was sat on, looking reassured.

**~StormWolf10~**

The remainder of the afternoon and early evening was awkward, but the group tried to make do. Rose and Freya even managed to convince Donald to stay to dinner. Alec had attempted to also convince his Dad to stay, but it was a little stilted and awkward until Rose intervened.

Dinner itself was only kept up by Freya's explanation to her Granddad about her job at the gym. Conversation clammed up momentarily when Donald asked about whether she was seeing anyone, and Alec looked momentarily refused when Rose had interrupted, saying that Freya was focusing on work. Tony sat in stubborn silence, picking at his dinner and glaring at Donald across the cramped table. They'd had to jam another chair around the table, and it was a little tight, but it was only Tony who seemed bothered to the whole thing.

Tony was put to bed at the usual time, making a point to hug and kiss everyone goodnight except for Donald. While Alec put the boy to bed, Rose sighed.

"I'm sorry about that, Donald," she told the man as soon as she was sure Tony was out of earshot. "I don't know why he's being like this."

"Don't worry about it," Donald responded with a small smile, although he seemed a little upset about the whole situation. "He doesn't know me, he didn't realise I was coming…"

"That doesn't give him the right to be rude," Rose replied calmly. "I'll have a talk with him tomorrow."

"Well," Donald told her, giving Rose a pointed look, "if you feel you need to. But perhaps you should just leave the lad, give him time to come to me on his own. I'm here for a few weeks, if that's alright with you. Thought I could help out a bit with your wee lad when he comes, and help with your brother. It also gives me a chance to catch up with my granddaughter."

At that, Donald smiled over at Freya, who grinned back. She'd settled herself on the smaller sofa, opposite the armchair, and had kept quiet during Tony's sulking and obvious attempt at unsettling her Granddad.

"D'you still wanna help out with Tony when I'm having the baby?" Rose asked suddenly. "I mean, I understand if you don't want to, and Freya's already offered, but…"

"No, of course I will," Donald interrupted, brow furrowing. "Give me a chance to get to know Tony some more, and help Freya out."

Rose smiled then, relieved. Maybe, just maybe, that would be what Tony needed to help him accept Donald…


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: In which Sam Flint is discussed and there's a new addition to the Hardy clan...**

The end of May passed, and Rose was baffled and annoyed to find herself still pregnant. Her midwife suggested she went in for another scan, which Rose grudgingly agreed to. Rose and Alec sent Tony to school as usual on June 3rd, and then they headed into hospital. There was a bit of a wait, but after half hour or so, they found themselves in a private room as Rose was looked over by a doctor.

"Now, you're only a few days overdue," the doctor was stating with a small smile as he stepped back from examining Rose, "but your blood pressure's a little on the high side. It's not causing the baby any distress at the moment, but I think we should perhaps look into inducing you. How does June 6th sound as a birthday for your lad?"

Rose turned to look at Alec then, a little uncertain. Everything seemed to be going so fast, and now there were talks of her baby being born that Saturday… If she were honest, Rose was finding it all a little overwhelming.

"It's up to you," Alec told her quietly. "But it might be better for you to be induced sooner rather than later."

Rose bit her lip, but nodded in understanding. Then, she turned her attention back to the doctor, and nodded.

"Yeah," she told him softly. "Sounds good."

**~StormWolf10~**

They pre-warned Freya and Tony later that afternoon, once Tony was back from school and Freya was back from work. Tony seemed excited about the baby coming in just three days, while Freya seemed relieved. That, Donald pointed out later that evening when Alec informed him of Rose's decision to be induced, was probably because Freya had been able to see how worried Rose had gotten over the past few days with still no sign of the baby coming.

Of course, Ellie had to be informed, as birthing partner, and Alec explained everything to Elaine at work while Rose dealt with a very excited Donna and Wilf.

"So you're having the baby on Saturday?" Donna asked excitedly over the phone.

"That's the plan," Rose agreed, nodding even though Donna couldn't see her. "But there's a possibility I might go into labour before."

"Yeah, but it's only three days," Donna argued. "Surely that won't happen?"

"There's no way of really knowing, Donna," Rose sighed. "They did a membrane sweep, but nothing happened, and apparently my blood pressure's a little higher than it's meant to be, so they wanna induce. But that doesn't mean something won't happen between now and Saturday."

She heard Donna sigh then, on the other end of the line.

"I'll call you again tomorrow then," Donna announced, "see how you are. And I expect Alec to keep me up to date on Saturday while everything's going on."

"I'll tell him that," Rose responded with a grin. "Speak to you soon."

**~StormWolf10~**

The next few days seemed to fly by, and suddenly, it was Saturday morning. Donald arrived during breakfast, to keep an eye on Tony with Freya, while the boy grumbled that he wanted to go over to the Carters' and play with their border collie pup (which, apparently, Tom had named Alfie) but Alec had said no.

"I'll phone you a little later, let you know what's going on," Alec told his Dad a little later as he and Rose were leaving the house.

They were meeting Ellie at the hospital, along with the midwife, and even as they said their goodbyes Alec could tell Rose was getting antsy. He'd stored her bag in the boot of the car the night before, and after one final hug from an unimpressed Tony (who still wasn't overly convinced about Donald), he was leading Rose to the car.

"You alright?" Alec asked once he and Rose had slid into the car.

Rose nodded, managing a weak smile that didn't meet her eyes.

"Worried?" Alec asked again, brow furrowing slightly.

Rose bit her lip, looked away for a few moments.

"It's just… The next time we come back here, to this house," Rose began uncertainly, glancing over at Alec worriedly, "we'll have a baby. I know we've… Well, we've been waiting months, and now it's actually happening…" She sighed then, shaking her head. "I'm being silly."

"No, you're not," Alec assured her gently as he started the car engine up. "I was the same when Freya was born, and I'm sure Ellie will tell you she was the same with Tom."

Rose nodded, still looking a little unconvinced, and then they were pulling away and making their way down the road.

**~StormWolf10~**

Ellie was already at the hospital when Alec and Rose got there, and they met up with Rose's midwife once they were on the ward. Things were a bit of a blur after that, for Rose. She was taken into a birthing suite, Alec helped her into a gown, and a doctor talked her through how she would be induced. Something was mentioned about her possibly needing another dose of the prostaglandin in a few hours, and Rose just nodded, hoping Alec and Ellie were understanding more than she was. Then, they'd administered the prostaglandin and left them alone. Ellie had settled herself in a chair with a book, giving Rose a reassuring smile. Alec, meanwhile, apparently couldn't stop pacing and moving things about.

"Rose?" he asked suddenly from where he was stood beside the door. "Lights on or off?"

Rose blinked.

"It's ten in the morning, Alec," Rose responded, brow furrowing. "We don't need the lights on."

"I know," Alec responded, sounding a little annoyed. "But for later, if you're still in labour this evening, would you want the lights on or off?"

"I don't know," Rose sighed. "That's hours away, Alec. I'm not even _in_ labour yet. I don't know if I'll want the lights on or off. Just leave it for now."

Alec sniffed, pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Rose had downright refused to let him wear a suit to the hospital, and had found him a pair of his old jeans and a t-shirt he could wear instead. Ellie had found it a little amusing, seeing Alec Hardy in jeans and a t-shirt, but she was currently hiding her smirk behind the book she was reading. Sniffing again, Alec resumed his pacing. Rose rolled her eyes and reached for the book she'd brought along.

**~StormWolf10~**

It was after more than five hours, and a second dose of the prostaglandin, that things actually started to happen. In all honesty, Rose was a little glad when she felt the first tightening of her contractions; Alec had been pacing, sitting, sighing, rubbing his eyes, and fiddling with his phone since they'd gotten there, and she was sort of relieved for the distraction. As she winced at the sudden tightening, one hand going to her belly, both Alec and Ellie sat up and took notice, Alec stilling, wide-eyed in the middle of the room. Really, Rose couldn't blame them for getting distracted; it had been a bit dull, waiting for the prostaglandin to begin working. Within thirty seconds, the tightening went away, and Rose looked up with a small frown on her face to see Ellie watching her, book in her lap and small smile on her face. Looking over at Alec, Rose saw her partner swallow, and blink.

"Guess we're in business, then," Alec noted after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah," Rose agreed softly, nodding.

"It will most likely still be a little while yet," Ellie broke in calmly, slipping her bookmark into her book, "even with the prostaglandin."

Rose nodded again, and pushed herself off the bed. Alec watched in silence as Rose paced the room in silence.

"You alright?" he asked suddenly, brow furrowed and arms folded across his chest as he watched Rose pace. "D'you need anything?"

"Just need to move about," Rose shrugged, nose wrinkling. "Not had another contraction yet, but it's getting a bit boring just sitting there."

**~StormWolf10~**

"How are you doing?"

"Exactly the same as the last time you asked, Alec," Rose sighed, glancing over at him. "I'm doing fine; contractions are still six and a half minutes apart."

She and Alec were pacing the hospital corridors while Ellie made a phone call to Tom and Fred. Both Rose and Alec had been pacing for the past hour or so, for different reasons. While Alec had been pacing because he was bored and needed to do something, Rose had been pacing because she still wasn't comfortable being in the hospital, and was getting more nervous the longer she was there. In the end, Ellie had gotten so fed up of Rose's and Alec's pacing that she had suggested they went for a walk, to keep Alec busy and to hopefully calm Rose.

"So you don't want to go back to the ward?" Alec asked again, glancing over at her.

Rose rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine, Alec," Rose repeated. "If I need to go back to the ward, I'll tell you. From the amount of time between the contractions, we've still got a few hours to go at least. Now can we please change the subject?"

"I'm just checking-" Alec began grumpily.

"I know," Rose assured him, leaning into his side a little and slipping her hand into his, "and I'm grateful, I am. But the baby's not gonna suddenly fall out from between my legs, so can we talk about something else for a little while? Just to get my mind off it."

Alec thought for a few moments, before nodding. He wrapped his arm around Rose's waist then, as she winced at another contraction. He glanced at his mobile, gripped in his hand to time the contractions. They continued walking, and thirty-five seconds later, Rose squeezed his waist to signal the end of the contraction. Alec made a mental note of the time, and they kept walking in silence. They turned into another corridor, and kept going.

"Freya told me about Sam," Alec announced suddenly, looking over at Rose.

Rose blinked, looking up at her partner in shock.

"I wasn't sure if she would," Rose admitted after a few moments. "I thought it best to let her tell you herself, but didn't know how long it would take…"

"She told me you already knew," Alex acknowledged calmly. "And I'm grateful you were there when she got home. I just… How could he do that?"

"I don't know," Rose admitted quietly. "But I think Freya's better off without him."

Alec sniffed, before nodding in agreement.

"She won't tell me where he lives," Alec grumbled suddenly.

Rose stopped in the middle of the corridor then, wide-eyed and shocked.

"Alec, you can't be suggesting going to his house?!" Rose asked, brow furrowing.

"Why not?" Alec asked, brow furrowing and tone bitter. "He tried to pressure my eighteen year old daughter into having sex with him, and when she refused, he cheated on her! It would be quite easy for Freya to tell me his address, she's been there several times." Then, he sniffed. "Besides, I'd like a word or two with him."

Rose set her jaw, shaking her head.

"This was not what I meant when I asked to talk about something else, Alec," she told him quietly after a few moments. "And you can't just go round to an eighteen year old's house! Besides, his parents probably live there!"

"Good," Alec responded calmly, "then I can have a word with them, too. They need to teach their son some manners."

Rose pulled away from Alec then, shaking her head again.

"You aren't going round there, Alec," she told him quietly. "And we're sure as hell not having this conversation while I'm in labour."

Alec's shoulders dropped then, cold expression falling away into one of guilt.

"_Shite_," he muttered bitterly, rubbing at his face with both hands before letting them drop to his side, meeting Rose's gaze. "I'm sorry, Rose. I'm being an idiot. I just… I'm upset, about what he did to Freya…"

"I know," Rose nodded, voice quiet. "I am too. But please, please can we not discuss bloody Sam Flint while I'm having our little boy?"

Alec nodded, crossing to Rose's side guiltily to draw her in for a hug. They stayed that way for several long moments before they finally broke it.

"You know," Rose began conversationally, still leaning on Alec, "you did promise to phone Donna."

**~StormWolf10~**

By eight in the evening, Rose was having regular, strong contractions at just under five minutes apart. While both Ellie and the midwife were assuring Rose that she was doing well, Alec was nowhere to be seen.

"Where the hell is he?" she demanded, glaring at Ellie as she squatted beside the bed.

Ellie ignored the glare and continued rubbing Rose's back as she knelt beside her.

"As far as I know, he was going to phone his Dad to update him, Freya and Tony on how you're doing," Ellie told her quietly.

Rose groaned in annoyance, resting her head against the mattress as Ellie continued rubbing her back. While Tom and Fred were being looked after by Olly, and none of them were that bothered about being updated on Rose's progress, Alec had promised his Dad, Freya and Tony he'd keep them updated, as well as updating Wilf and Donna when necessary.

Almost a minute after it had started, the contraction trailed off, and Rose straightened up with Ellie's help.

"How long does it take to tell them that I'm dilated five centimetres?" Rose grumbled as she resumed her pacing, hands supporting her back.

"Maybe something's come up," Ellie suggested, watching Rose pace nervously. "It's your brother's bedtime; Donald might be having trouble getting him to bed. And perhaps you should stop pacing so much."

"I can't sit down, Ellie," Rose sighed as she turned to face the woman. "I need to keep busy, keep my mind off where I actually am. And I'll get bored."

"You'll also get tired," Ellie responded. "Just sit down for a few minutes. Then you can get up again."

With a bit more grumbling, Ellie managed to get Rose to sit on the bed for a few minutes. It was just then that Alec appeared, shutting the door firmly behind him.

"Sorry about that," he told them, mobile in hand, "your brother wouldn't go to bed."

Ellie gave Rose an 'I-told-you-so' look then.

"Also," Alec continued with a sigh, "he's asking to come in and see you tomorrow morning, but I told Dad there's a possibility you'll still be in labour. I mean, he _could_ come in if you wanted-"

"No!" Rose interrupted suddenly, glaring at Alec as she pushed herself onto her feet to face him. "No way are they coming anywhere near here when I'm still in labour! Not my brother, not your Dad, and not Freya!"

"Alright," Alec nodded, holding his hands up. "It was just a suggestion-"

"Yeah, well," Rose interrupted in annoyance. "They're not coming. I don't want them here, I don't want Tony here, not if something goes wrong, with me, or the baby, or-"

Alec watched in alarm then, as Rose broke off with a pained moan. He rushed to her side immediately, trying to catch her as she gravitated towards the ground. He should have been there, he decided, he should have gotten Tony off the phone quicker, shouldn't have spoken to Tony and Freya at all, should have just told Donald the facts. He should have been there for Rose, he knew how upset she was about having to birth their son in a hospital, how scared she was of the same thing happening to her as had happened to her Mum when she'd given birth to Tony. She'd gotten herself worked up, that much was obvious… Alec was kicking himself for not noticing sooner, for not realising Rose needed him…

"Alec."

Ellie's voice interrupted his thoughts, and he looked over at the woman. Rose was between them, Alec still holding her up as she panted and moaned.

"Alec," Ellie said again, urging him to look at her, "you need to let her squat. Believe me, Rose knows what she's doing, and holding her up like that is just going to make things worse for her."

Alec blinked, brain failing to process Ellie's words. Then, as the words began to make sense in his mind, he lessened his grip. The effect was immediate, as Rose dropped into a squat. Alec went with her, one hand still holding her arm. Not long after, the contraction was over. Rose shifted slightly, hand going to fist in Alec's t-shirt.

"Sorry," he told her quietly, still a little shocked. "Didn't realise."

Rose just shook her head, eyes shut as she recovered from the contraction.

"Didn't you know from when Freya was born?" Ellie asked in confusion, still standing.

Alec blinked, and looked up.

"I, uh, wasn't there," he admitted after a few moments. "Bea didn't want me there."

Rose straightened then, tugging Alec with her, and he noted that she immediately leant into him. He wrapped his arms around her readily, holding her up.

"You alright?" Alec asked quietly, tearing his gaze from Ellie to look down at Rose.

She nodded, eyes shut as she leant against him.

"You've still got the lights off, I've noticed," Alec continued, voice quiet as Rose remained leaning against him. "Do you want to keep them off, or put the light on?"

"Keep them off," Rose responded quietly, pulling away from Alec slightly to look over at Ellie. "If that's alright with you two."

"Never mind us," Ellie told Rose calmly, reclaiming her chair from earlier. "You do what you want. Your blood pressure's high because you're so worried."

"Not like I can help it," Rose muttered under her breath, leaning back into Alec's chest again.

**~StormWolf10~**

"No, you're not coming in," Alec sighed for the umpteenth time. He was pacing again, this time outside the hospital entrance as he phoned home. It was only half seven in the morning, but from the sounds of it, Tony had had everyone up bright and early that morning. "Your sister's not had the baby yet, Tony. She'd rather you don't come in until after he's been born."

Alec listened then, as Tony sniffled about how Rose didn't want him there.

"Tony," Alec sighed again, "don't get upset. Your sister's very tired. Once the baby's been born, I'll phone and Donald will bring you and Freya up to see us, yeah?"

As Tony sniffled a reply, Alec yawned. Rose was close now, and he suspected that this would be the last phone call he'd make before he called to tell them the baby had arrived. He'd given up phoning Donna, just sending a quick text explaining that Rose was close and that he'd call once their son had been born. Tony, however, was proving difficult to get off the phone again. Alec hadn't even spoken to his Dad or Freya, because Tony had gotten to the phone first. Alec had had half the mind just to hang up when Tony answered, because he didn't really have the energy, or the inclination to talk for ages with the seven year old. He and Ellie hadn't been able to do much more than fitfully doze during the night, taking it in turns to sit up with Rose and help her pace the room. In the end, they'd gotten her settled in the bed, as she clearly began to flag.

Tony was still wittering on, Alec realised, about wanting to know when Rose and his nephew would be home, what time could he come to the hospital, could he bring the cuddly toy he'd bought the baby.

"Listen, Tony," Alec interrupted suddenly, rubbing at his eyes. "Just tell Donald that I'll phone again when he can bring you in, yeah? I need to get back to Rose."

The boy agreed dejectedly, saying his goodbyes in a quiet tone that made Alec almost certain he was pouting. The Scotsman sighed again as he hung up and headed back into the hospital. It couldn't be helped, he decided, Rose didn't want her brother to come in until after she'd had the baby, in case something went wrong. And, quite frankly, Alec was grateful. While the midwife assured them that everything was going well, he could see Rose was still worried, and the last thing they needed was Tony there getting her worked up. Besides, she'd be in transition soon, and they didn't need Tony around while that was going on.

As he returned to the ward, Alec was met with the now-familiar sight of Rose stood in the middle of the room, bundled in her dressing gown and leaning heavily on Ellie.

"How'd the talk with your Dad go?" Ellie asked, looking up as he entered the room.

Rose, it seemed, was puffing her way through yet another contraction.

"It didn't," Alec stated calmly, crossing the room to relieve Ellie of Rose. "Tony got to the phone first. It was all I could bloody do to get him to let me end the call." And then, he turned his attention to Rose. "But more to the point, why are you out of bed? I thought we'd agreed it would be better for you to labour in bed now? You're almost in transition."

"She was getting herself wound up again," Ellie chipped in with a stifled yawn.

**~StormWolf10~**

It was less than fifteen minutes after Alec had returned from his phone call with Tony that Rose was in transition. The midwife resurfaced then, with a smile and a "you're doing well", bustling round the room, and chatting, and examining Rose before declaring her at eight centimetres dilated. Rose was back in bed by then, and she'd tugged Alec on to the bed too. He'd slipped his shoes off silently, and Ellie was surprised he didn't grumble about the cramped bed, or that one of his long legs dangled off the edge. Rose had grown silent, and Alec, Ellie and even the chatty midwife grew quiet. Ellie took advantage of the silence, and the time, to watch Alec and Rose together. Rose had turned slightly on the bed, her head on Alec's chest and her hand fisting in his t-shirt. While she was remaining positively silent, Rose wasn't attempting to hide her pained expressions. She was too tired, Ellie decided practically, it had been almost a day and Rose hadn't done more than doze fitfully for maybe half hour in all that time.

Alec, meanwhile, was frowning. Ellie had to smirk at that. He was being typically Alec, she mused silently, always frowning and being grumpy. In truth, Ellie knew it was because he was growing more and more uncomfortable with Rose being in so much pain, and the fact that she still wasn't completely happy with being in hospital to have the baby. He was beating himself up, Ellie guessed, about encouraging Rose to be in hospital for the birth of their son, for leaving so many times to inform Donald and Donna about how the labour was progressing, about any little thing he felt he hadn't done well enough during Rose's labour. He'd rested his cheek on Rose's head, expression still somewhat passive, hand rubbing Rose's back in wide circles.

And it was then, for the first time since they'd gotten to the hospital the day before, that Ellie felt redundant. A third wheel. Unnecessary. Because, while Rose had been reassured by the fact that Ellie knew what to expect from labour, and hadn't been at all fazed by the strength or length of contractions, the person she really needed now was Alec. She didn't need Ellie, with all her experience of being pregnant, and giving birth, and having a baby. She needed Alec, her partner. She needed him to hold her hand, and support her, and rub her back, and let her scream and shout for doing this to her.

Ellie smiled a little, small smile then. She was happy for Alec and Rose, she really was. If anyone had ever told her when she'd first met Alec Hardy that they'd end up best friends, he'd get himself a partner, and Ellie would be there for the birth of their child, she'd have laughed at them. Or told them to fuck off. Probably both, actually. Because it didn't seem possible, Alec Hardy the grumpy Scot falling in love with one Rose Tyler, and them starting a new life together. But they were. And while she was happy for them, it also made Ellie so, so sad. Because she'd had all that, the loving partner, the wonderful children, the family house in a beautiful seaside town. She'd had everything that Alec and Rose were just beginning to get for themselves. And she'd lost it all.

But now wasn't the time to sit and dwell on the past, because then the midwife was grinning again, chattering away, and Ellie realised she must have zoned out for at least five or ten minutes, because the midwife was announcing Rose was fully dilated. Quietly, Ellie let out a sigh of relief. She'd loved being Rose's birth partner, and wouldn't have turned it down for anything, but it had been a long twenty-two hours, and all she wanted now was her bed. Hopefully it wouldn't be long now.

**~StormWolf10~**

A few hours later, Ellie was stifling yet another yawn. She'd evidently gotten a little ahead of herself earlier, longing for her bed, as Rose was still deep in labour. She'd been pushing since ten to eight that morning, and it was now getting on for half one in the afternoon. Alec had settled himself behind Rose as per her request, while Ellie had been left to hold Rose's leg in position. Quite truthfully, Ellie was beginning to feel rather bad for Rose, as both her labours with the boys had been long but not as long as Rose's. She was getting on for twenty-seven and a half hours, and clearly beginning to flag, even with Alec holding her up and Ellie holding her leg in position.

"The head's beginning to crown," the midwife announced from the foot of the bed.

Ellie was glad that, as stage two went on for longer and longer, the midwife had grown progressively less cheery. While Alec had found it a bit worrying, Ellie had been relieved, as she'd been beginning to develop a headache. A handful of slightly quieter midwives were bustling around too, getting things set up for the baby, and stacking up piles of clean towels.

Rose cried out then, tears welling in her eyes at the pain, and the accompanying call of the midwife assured Ellie that the baby's head was indeed crowning. Rose cried out again, drawing Ellie's attention back to Rose and Alec. She wondered if she should say something, try to reassure Rose, but then she saw that Alec seemed to have that covered, as he muttering quiet nonsense to her, pressing a kiss to her temple every now and then. Deciding Rose probably wouldn't hear anything she said anyway, due to being more interested in listening to Alec if she were going to listen to anyone, Ellie settled for rubbing Rose's leg reassuringly.

Rose's pained cries continued for several more minutes, as did the comforting murmurs of Alec while the midwife encouraged Rose not to push. Ellie joined in with Alec's comforting then, no longer willing to sit in silence while her friend was in pain, even though she knew that the pain wasn't because Rose was ill or injured. Only a minute or so later, with Rose being given permission to resume pushing, she'd pushed the baby's shoulders out, and the baby slid out in a wet rush. Moments later, after the midwife had cleared the baby's airways, the newborn's sobs filled the room as he was lifted up onto Rose's chest. Instinctively, she let go of Alec's hands to cradle her son to her, as Alec's arms came up to support Rose's.

"There we go, Mummy," the cheerful midwife announced with a smile, "we'll get him cleaned up soon, but for now you can just give him a cuddle. You've got a few minutes before you'll feel the need to deliver the placenta, so you've got a little while to rest, too."

Rose just nodded, a small smile on her face as she stared down at her baby son. It was time, Ellie decided, to step outside and give them some privacy.


End file.
